From the Third to the Fourth
by iamthou
Summary: After facing The Reaper, Minato finds himself helping out the Investigation Team in Inaba, only then does everything start going downhill. P3/P4, AU. -BEING REWRITTEN AS TO THE FOURTH WITH REMEMBRANCE-
1. Chapter 1

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter One; Death is not a hunter unbeknownst to its prey.

* * *

They succeeded in their battle against Strega, now what's left is The Hanged Man, Minato wasn't paying much attention to what both Jin and Takaya had to say, he had his headphones on playing since the beginning of the battle, he heard the soft 'I will burn my dread' part play, quietly, even if it was at its lowest volume, it still managed to block out everything thing around the blue haired boy.

It actually literally almost blocked everything.

Minato honestly didn't know why, but his head decided to make friends with the floor, he could imagine some silly conversation between the two.

_'Hey Floor! I'm Minato's head! We should be friends!'_

_'I would love that!'_

He would smile at that, but this isn't the time to be thinking about what random things would say to each other. He suddenly was turned over to his back, he now was looking at the green sky, even in the dark hour the sky always looks beautiful, he saw his friends face look down at him, with worried looks. Why were they worried? He just fell to the floor, nothing of importance. Minato felt something warm on his hand when he placed it on his chest, he looked at it, and his hand was now covered a bit by something that was crimson coloured.

'It's blood isn't it?' He thought in his mind, 'Why is there blood on my chest?'

He looked over at Mitsuru, she was talking about something, Minato wasn't great at reading lips, but he could at least pick up 'Stop moving Arisato, you're only going to strain yourself.'

He wanted to put the two together, but he already figured out what had happened only moments ago, at this point he was starting to grow tired, he wanted to close his eyes, but there is no point in battling them, he motioned at Mitsuru to come closer, "I'm going... To take a short nap." he whispered softly to her, before she could speak again he only hushed her, "If I don't wake up, I want you to take care of the team... Promise me that."

…...He closed his eyes, to be instantly engulfed by the darkness; it was a matter of seconds until he was in the Velvet Room, probably for the last time. He opened his eyes slowly, hearing the music that played in the Velvet Room, he dubbed it 'Poem for Everyone's Soul'. Unsure why he decided on that when he first came here.

He saw Igor and Elizabeth on the other side of the table; Igor began to spoke to him for what could be the last time. "My, what an unexpected turn of events." Minato took notice of the one card that lay in the middle of the table, it flipped over relieving Death in the upright position. "However even if Death has arrived at your door, there is still a journey left for you to uncover."

Minato only smiled at that, Death has to be his favourite tarot card. But even with Igor's words he was left to also be confused, even if it was this way every time Igor did this. "So I didn't die? How was that possible?"

Igor shook his head, "Death is inevitable. However it seems like there is something left for you in another world." The Death card flipped over twice, now revealing The Fool in the upright position. "The Fool also represents new beginnings. Yet it feels like in your new journey to come, you will have to face very important decisions." The Fool flipped over and gathered back into the deck with the rest of the cards. "Whether you take this life as the afterlife or as a new beginning is up to you."

Minato nodded, he wasn't sure what was going on, but he decided to play along, he only told himself that he is just being reborn as another person. He looked over at Elizabeth, the Velvet Room attendant. She was gripping onto her book a bit tighter than usual, yet she continues to smile, "We will soon reach your destination."

The elevator Velvet Room was slowly down and eventually stopped dead in its tracks, "Until we met again." Igor spoke once last time before the gates opened up, light shined straight through, the more it opened, the more light it showed, covering Minato's vision.

Soon the light became darkness once again, Minato had no idea what was going on, he felt himself drifting away. It felt like hours before he could open his eyes, he got up immediately and examined the place around him... No such luck, Minato couldn't really tell where he was, obviously, the thick fog surrounding him wouldn't allow him to do so.

He decided to take a look at himself, he was wearing his winter clothing, last time he remembered, he was wearing his school uniform in the Dark Hour like they would normally, why the sudden change? He questioned himself. At least he had his Evoker where it would be normally; to Minato it felt a bit uncomfortable wearing the holster with his winter clothing. Yes it's near the belt like it would normally. Yet it felt so awkward. Maybe he's just use to wearing it with his school uniform.

He still had his headphones too, or earphones as Yukari would correct him, he never really cared about the difference and still called them headphones.

Minato looked around him before picking a random direction and walking that way, before he could move he thought he heard the sound of chains rattling. Instantly that is _not _a good sign. He remembered the many times he encountered 'Death' in Tatarus. More specifically The Reaper. He knew that going near that thing would be the end of him when he first went to Tatarus.

...Is it possible to try and face him now? There is no choice, he could run, but there is nowhere for Minato to hide. It's basically a lose-lose situation. But what if it's not The Reaper? There is also that possibility.

Instantly as he thought about that fact, the cry of The Reaper roared through the area. "That's The Reaper alright." Minato corrected himself, there's no turning back for him now, it's now or never. He reached for his Evoker, grabs hold of it and pressed it against his right temple. He wasn't hesitant to pull the trigger, as he had done this multiple times. The sound of glass breaking came, as his Persona, Orpheus appeared. The Persona strummed the strings of the lyre, to cast Agidyne on The Reaper, setting it on fire.

It didn't seem to even scratch the damn thing. Well at least he knew now that The Reaper resists fire spells. If only he had someone like Fukka, he would tell her to scan The Reaper so he knew what skills to avoid using on The Reaper.

Knowing his luck, The Reaper is probably resistant to everything and null to both light and dark. Only then he would know that he is basically screwed in several ways possible. _"Why am I expecting an easy way out of this mess? It's The Reaper for crying out loud. Of course he is not going to be easy in any way possible." _He shouted at himself.

He was prepared for the worst when The Reaper shot up into the sky casting Ziodyne straight at him, it didn't kill him, thankfully, however he was now shocked and down. Once more, The Reaper shot up into the sky, only to Mind Charge himself.

Minato shook off the shock, and stood back up, he quickly changed Personae to Saki Mitama to heal some of his injuries. "What should I do?" He questioned himself, should he run or should he continue to fight? Before he knew it he heard the sound of a gunshot once again, The Reaper shot another Ziodyne at him, however with Saki Mitama, he was now resistant to electricity, ice and fire based spells. The cost of it all is that he is now weak to strike, mostly has status inflicting moves, along with just one electricity spell; Zionga.

"I could try to hit him with a Megidola with Lilith, although the chance he resists almighty is high." Minato started to strategize; he needed to start thinking if he is going to defeat The Reaper by himself. He did decide to go with his gamble and switch to Lilith as The Reaper tried to hit him with a Bufudyne, which managed to damage Minato quite a bit.

With another click from his Evoker, Lilith appeared to rain Megidola upon The Reaper. Which actually managed to damage The Reaper? "Are you kidding me? He's actually _not _resistant to almighty?" Minato was surprised with this fact. He never could imagine, The Reaper not being resistant to almighty. Usually Minato wouldn't care, but this is the freaking Reaper!

He sighed, in both relief and frustration. He should be happy about the fact that The Reaper is not resisting almighty, but know he knows and thus going to abuse Megidola. Minato took a deep breath, he didn't know where he was going with this, but he decided to chuck aside his Evoker, "Hey Reaper! How about just a fair fight? Just our weapons and our weapons only? No healing, no buffs, it's just our strength and only our strength! How about it?" He shouted at the shadow in front of him, he honestly didn't know why he just declared a fight with only their weapons. But The Reaper seemed too agreed when he motioned at Minato to "Come at me with your full strength."

Minato smirked, "That's what I like to hear. Whoever falls first is the loser." He quickly changed his Persona to Abaddon, since he resists all three, strike, slash and pierce damage. He ran up to The Reaper, slashing him with his one handed sword. It didn't do much to The Reaper.

Now it's just a game of strength and stamina. They could both fight for endless hours; the question that Minato was gambling with is which will be the first to fall? The Reaper pointed its gun at Minato, shooting him; more specifically it was just a pierce attack.

Now that he thinks about it, didn't he have Abaddon equipped during the battle against Strega? No, no, he changed Personae during the battle; possibly it was one of the Personae that were weak against pierce? Minato shrugged the thought off; his main focus now is The Reaper.

"Just focus on attacking. Be clear of any thoughts and this should be over and done with." He muttered to himself, before getting ready to charge at The Reaper once again.

It's been probably two hours or what may seem like forever before Minato remembered that he was fighting in the deep fog, it only took him to realize when he started to miss contacting his attacks, and he was starting to run out of stamina, he wasn't sure about The Reaper.

However the same seemed too applied to The Reaper, every now and then he would miss his aim entirely, making him actually go to Minato to have a better shot at smacking him. This would repeat over and over again, the two didn't show signs of weariness, even if they actually started to feel fatigue, especially Minato. He was growing really tired, his swings were becoming slower each time.

He also started to miss very frequently, sometimes he slipped and fell down, he cursed at himself when it did happen. "What do I do? At this point, I'm going to lose." He took a deep breath and started to pant, he was seriously tired, his muscles were starting to become sore as well.

Minato only grunted, "I can do this..." Before charging straight to The Reaper, taking a big leap towards the shadow, striking the sword straight into it. The Reaper roared in pain, before falling limp and disintegrating to ash, Minato landed a bit harshly, staggering back and forth to keep balance. Once he regained his balance he sighed, and picked up both the Bloody Button the shadow left behind and his Evoker.

The battle was finally over, he felt a few of his Personae gaining more strength after the battle. He switched over back to Saki Mitama, and summoned the Persona to heal himself up. Even though the healing spells just heal the wound, it brought back some energy back to Minato. He was still trying to take deep breaths to catch his breath, the fact he was tired stayed as well.

Once again his head decided to befriend the floor, all he wanted to do was rest... "Hey! Hang in there!" Did he just hear a voice right there? No, it must just be his imagination... "He seems to be really tired, we need to get him out of here beary quickly!" He drifted once again into the darkness...

* * *

_And so that's Chapter 1! So I was really inspired by other P3/P4 crossovers fanfics, so I decided to give a crack at it! I was really debating with the beginning, and decided to gamble of the idea of 'What if Takaya shot Minato before The Hanged Man fight?'_

_Also a gamble in the Velvet Room, my god I had to change it so much, mainly because I had no idea how to write Igor, I am not use to writing characters similar to him. He is however, very interesting to write. _

_There was a bit of a debate on Minato's character as well, I've decided on a simple cool, calm, collected personality. While he isn't anti social, he chooses to stay quiet, mainly because he prefers it that way. _

_Also I while I have somewhat decided on pairings, I don't know if I plan on using them in the story. But here's some pairings you guys can expect;_  
_-Yukiko x Chie_  
_-Kanji x Naoto_  
_-Rise x Souji_  
_-Slight Souji x Yosuke (bromance)_  
_-Souji x Minato? (debating, it's either bromance or fool-shipping ahhh-)_

_As you can already tell, I prefer Souji Seta over Yu Narukami, since I'm more use to his game/manga name over the anime/p4 arena name. _

_But that's all for now, thanks for reading! See you guys next chapter._


	2. Chapter 2

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Two; Another wielder of the Wild Card.

* * *

In the early afternoon, under a clear sky, the Investigation Team were sitting down at their so called, 'headquarters.' Said headquarters happen to be the Junes Food Court, they didn't have much time left to rescue the next person who appeared on the Midnight Channel, which happens to be Rise Kujikawa.

"Before we go, I would like to confirm the situation." A certain male with silver hair spoke up, the other members of the team were casually eating their afternoon snacks.

"Um, I believe Teddie said that we had at least two more floors before we confront both Rise and her shadow." One of the two females of the group said quietly, using minor hand gestures, "We have two more days before the dog comes though, will that be enough time?" She added onto her speech.

Another male of the group just snickered, "Of course it's gonna be enough time! We'll go in there and kick the shadows asses!" he shouted with determination, the silver haired male chuckled lightly, expecting this attitude from one of his members. He stood up from his chair, walked behind it and pushed it back in.

"You never fail to make me laugh, Kanji. Alright then, the objective of today's mission is to get to the highest floor and save Rise." He announced, setting a goal for their mission to save another person. The rest of the team members nodded, as some were finally finishing off their food, they all got up from their seats and headed back inside Junes.

They all gathered in front of a TV, one of the members looked around their surrounding, "The cost is clear." A male with brunette hair signalled everyone to start going in one by one, everyone had jumped in, now leaving the brunette to be the last one, and he checked his surrounding once again, before jumping in with the rest.

It only felt like a few minutes before they were 'inside the TV'. Everybody got up and dusted themselves after landing harshly onto the ground. It wasn't long until they were greeted by some bear outfit.

"Souji! Everyone! You're finally here!" The bear shouted across the area, he was running towards the team in a hurry, the leader, Souji was a bit confused by the bear's outburst.

"What's the matter Teddie?" Souji tried to calm down the bear, but it didn't seem to slow him down at all, Teddie was panicking.

"While you were gone, I have smelt other things! My nose is picking up a beary strong shadow and what might seem to be another person!"

"What?!" The other female of the group shouted, "Teddie are you sure it's not just Rise and her shadow?" The bear only shook his head.

"Chie, my nose may not be the beary strongest, but I can bear you that these senses isn't the same!" Teddie cried back at her, he was starting to tremble, "This sense isn't just a normal shadow its 'Death' and he is a very mean bear!" The male brunette looked at Teddie with shock, his eyes widened for just about minute.

"Wait a sec, Death? Isn't he the shadow we accidentally encountered from the chest?" He recalled the time they were saving the other member, Kanji, they found a chest and they all hoped it was new armour or money or something really good, it turned out to be a mimic and sent a strong shadow to them.

Teddie had dubbed it Death, even if it's real name The Reaper. He requested to the team to run away from the thing as fast as possible. The bear nodded back to the brunette, still trembling with fear.

"Wh-What should we do Souji?" He asked, his voice was now cracking mid sentence, Souji patted the bears head before hugging him to give comfort. He hushed quietly to the bear for him to take it easy and to take deep breaths. When Souji pulled away from the hug, the bear was calming down a bit before doing what he had ordered.

"Change of plans, Teddie I want you to lead us to where the scent is coming from, I know our first priorities should be Rise. But we should go try to help this other person, we can figure out why there is somebody else here later."

All of the team members nodded, agreeing with their new task, Teddie started to sniff around again to pinpoint where the other scents are coming from, once he got it, he walked up to the leader and told him to follow behind him. The bear started to walk in a direction, with the Investigation Team following behind him.

Before long, they arrived at what seemed to be a giant tower with open gates in front of it, most of the team was baffled by the looks of the area, especially one certain brunette male. "Woah, what kind of tower is this suppose to be?! It's freakishly tall and kinda creeps the shit out of me!" He yelled, suddenly he felt someone place their hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Yosuke, I admit it's a bit... Odd looking, but let's go get this over and done with, okay?" Souji told him in a quiet tone, he was quite known for being able to calm people down when they are in panic. Yosuke sighed, walking slowly towards the gate with the others.

Everybody froze when the sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the area, Souji was the first to ran past the gates, the rest of the team were a bit hesitant to follow, but ended up running to catch up with their leader.

In the middle of the tower and the gate were both The Reaper and someone with blue hair... Souji couldn't grasp the feeling of that he felt like he has seen this person from before...

"Hey, is that Naoto? The same person who talked to Kanji a couple of times?" The female with black hair spoke softly again, she stared at Kanji, who heard her. He shook his head.

"No it can't be, somethin' about this guy that doesn't fit the detective." He replied back to her, he noticed the sword the person was wielding, Kanji was thinking that the detective would be using his gun, or something along those lines.

The team watched the scene in front of them, wondering when is the best time to cut in and help out. Souji took this time to notice that the blue haired person did not have glasses on, the same kind of glasses that Teddie would give them. "That would mean that he would be able to see the fog, making difficult to fight. He hasn't even noticed us yet." Souji muttered to himself.

He heard a grunt coming from the person, it wasn't long until the person decided to charge straight towards The Reaper, taking a big jump into the air striking the sword straight into The Reaper. Souji's eye widened as he heard the cry of The Reaper, which dissolved into dust. "You gotta be shitting me." Kanji gasped, surprised that the mysterious blue haired person manage to take down The Reaper with just a sword.

Upon landing back to the ground, the person lost balance, staggering a bit before regaining its balance. The person made its way to pick up the item The Reaper left, also picking up an item that had a shape of a gun, which was now being pressed against the right temple, the team panicked, Souji was just about to tell the person to stop, however, the person breathed out a small "Persona." and the trigger was pulled. There was a sound of a gunshot along with glass shattering. Something appeared, no it was Saki Mitama, Souji knew this Persona well, so why did this persona have Saki Mitama as their Persona as well?

The Persona spun in a circle, it used a Diarama, healing the person's wounds, who was still trying to catch their breath. Before the team knew it, the person fell straight to the ground.. Teddie was the first to run over to the unconscious person. "Hey! Hang in there!" Teddie shouted with worry, Souji ran towards the bear. "He seems to be really tired, we need to get him out of here beary quickly!" Souji nodded, motioning Kanji to help him pick the person up.

It wasn't long before the team managed to get out of the TV world, with one unconscious person. Sadly Teddie decided to stay in the TV world. "Should we call an ambulance?" Chie suggested towards the team, Souji shook his head.

"That might cause unnecessary trouble, while his method to summon their Persona is a bit... absurd. The people might think it's actually a gun. Teddie did say he was just tired. Yukiko do you have a spare room in the Inn?" Souji looked over at the black haired girl, she stood quiet for a bit before speaking up.

"No we are full today, however I can try to arrange a room tomorrow."

"Alright, call me first thing when you do, I'll take care of th-."

"Woah, woah, woah! What about Nanako? And especially your Uncle, are they okay with this?" Yosuke has interrupted Souji mid sentence, he also flailed his arms around with his leader's decision.

"I would hate to lie to Nanako, but it should do with the mean time, you guys wait here, I'll be back so we can go back in and go back to our original plan." Souji sighed, he hated telling lies, mainly because they end up causing trouble in the future. He started to make his way back to his house, supporting the unconscious blue haired person the best he could. (He actually had to readjust about ten times.) It only took about fifteen minutes before actually arriving back into the house.

"Welcome home, big brother!" A young female greeted with glee, happy her 'big brother' returned home, "Um, who's this?" She questioned the silver hair male who stood near the door with a person who slept deeply. The child didn't know that fact though.

"Ah, this is an old friend of mine back from the city, he just arrived at Inaba and fell straight asleep on me. So he's going to be staying for the night... Can you do me a favour and take care of him for me? I really have something important to do." Souji explained quickly, as he placed the sleeping boy onto the couch, the girl help him out a bit.

"Um, sure! If it's a friend of yours I'll be sure to take good care of him!" A small smile spread across her face.

"Thank you!" Souji ran out the house and made his way back to the Junes Food Court, to meet back up with the team, they went back inside the TV world, and he decided to make a quick visit to the Velvet Room though. However the moment he went inside, he was a bit speechless when he entered a place that looked like a library.

The iconic table with seats where in the middle like always though, but instead of two chairs there were three.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. Have a seat." Igor motioned towards the empty seat across him, the seat next to it was in a shape of a lyre. There sat the same blue haired male from before. Souji was beyond speechless at this point. He ended up sitting down on the empty chair. "I'm sure the two of you already figured this out, but the both of you wield the Wild Card." Igor waved his hand around as he continued to talk, "Please, introduce yourselves to each other."

"...I'll go first then; My name is Minato Arisato, it's a pleasure to meet you. From this day forward I'll be assisting you in your journey." Minato held his hand out to Souji, he took it and shook it.

"L-Likewise, I'm Souji Seta. Um... I'll look forward to your assistance?" It now made sense to Souji, why he had Saki Mitama as his Persona earlier, Souji began to ponder what Minato's Initial Persona is and if he faced his shadow. He heard Minato chuckle, Souji wasn't really all that great at introductions.

Souji finally took notice of the other female that stood by Igor, is she another resident of the Velvet Room? Igor looked over to Souji before speaking in his familiar tone once again, "Oh yes, I haven't introduced you to my other assistant. Elizabeth?"

The female with short platinum blonde hair smiled at Souji, "I'm Elizabeth, a younger sister of Margaret, like her I am a Velvet Room assistance. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, Elizabeth, while I'm here, could you register any updated Personae onto my compendium?" Minato asked a favour to Elizabeth,

"I'll get right to it." She walks over to the bookshelves to grab a book, and returned to her spot. Souji then remembered the reason why he came to the Velvet Room in the first place.

"Ah! I almost forgot... I would like to do a few fusions, and possible grab some Personae from my own compendium." Margaret nodded and left to grab a different book from the shelf, and came back. A few minutes past, Souji made a couple new Personae while Minato was checking out what he had available to him in his compendium. He stood up from his seat.

"I think that's it for me, I'll be leaving now." He turned to Souji, "Oh, I didn't thank you for helping me out earlier, I apologize." Souji only shook his head.

"No need to be sorry, you did seem pretty fatigue from fighting."

"Heh... That's what I get for deciding to have a showdown with The Reaper with only our weapons. I'll be waiting to hear the full story from you."

"And in exchange I would like to hear some of yours as well." He said jokingly, Minato let out a couple of small laughs.

Time seemed to stop for just about a moment, there was a small sound Souji heard, before a mysterious voice spoke a very familiar line.

_I am thou... And thou art I..._

_Thou hast established another bond of the Fool Arcana..._

_It shall bring thee even closer towards the truth..._

_Thou shalt have our blessings when creating Personae of the Fool Arcana..._

At the same time, Minato had heard a similar sound, then hearing a mysterious voice identical to what Souji had heard.

_I am thou and thou art I..._

_Thou hast re-established the Fool Arcana._

_Thou shalt have our blessings once again, when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana._

Souji raised an eyebrow to Igor, Minato only crossed his arms, "So that's what you meant by 'reforming old Social Links.' I'm not all that surprised that you're a Fool Arcana though." The blue-haired male left a small smirk form on his face.

"Why did I form a second Fool Arcana Social Link? I didn't think that was even possible." Souji questioned the long nosed man in front of him, said man only replied with a short hum.

"Quite interesting indeed... I never would deemed it to be impossible, it is however quite rare to establish two Social Links of the same Arcana. But I believe that there are certain requirements if one was to gain another link... The same would probably apply to you two, Minato."

"I'll keep that in mind." Minato made his way out the Velvet Room, Souji had stayed a tad bit longer to fuse a couple more Personae. Once he was done, he returned back out into the TV world with the rest of the team. Even though he had spent quite a long time in the Velvet Room, it was probably about a minute or a few.

"Let's do our best and get to the 11th floor." Souji announced before talking to Teddie to lead them back to where Rise was being held at, which had been dubbed 'Marukyu Striptease' when the team first encountered Rise's shadow.

It actually took a good long haul for them to reach the top floor, leading Souji to change plans and to go back to some of the previous floors to do some small grinding. They all had run into multiple fights with the shadows, which eventually wore everybody out. The silver head felt really disappointed from his change of plans, but it was for the better or for the worst. They need to be prepared to face Rise's shadow.

He called it a day, and returned back to Inaba. He swore to himself that tomorrow will be the day that they _will_ rescue Rise. It was now one-hundred percent guaranteed.

* * *

_And that marks Chapter two! I just wanted to point out that I decided to drop the Japanese honorifics (chan, san, sempai) mainly because I don't feel comfortable with using them. Plus, I'm not very knowledgeable with how they work, so I think it's a lot easier to not use honorifics even though in both Persona 3 and 4 they use honorifics since its set in Japan._

_Also, I decided that Minato is going to be able to use most weapons the S.E.E.S members could use like in P3/P3FES. (Minus Koro's knife and Aigis's guns) _

_Have to admit, this was the longest debate I ever had with myself. Longer than the debate about how I was going to begin and where should I start P4 wise. Because it feels like I'm making Minato a tad bit overpowered. But argh, what can you do? When one game gives you so much variety for the MC, it would make it difficult, but fun to write his/her character in a story because you have so much to choose from._

_But back to Minato's weapon choice..._

_He will be using the one handed swords and battle axes more commonly (Especially the battle axes). I know in P3P they took that out and gave him just the one handed swords due to PSP limitations (if I remember correctly, I haven't played P3P, nor do I own a PSP so I don't know.) and I could just give him the swords. But technically we already have Souji for swords, and it would be nicer to have each person to have their own weapon for variety._

_Why I decided on battle axes was mainly because I loved the Bus Stop Sign weapon. Literally, the moment I got it in P3FES I gave it to Minato. _

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Three; Everyday's great at your Junes!

* * *

_A/N: Hey guys welcome to another chapter! I just wanted to thank everybody who has favourite__d__, followed and reviewed this story so far! I really wasn't expecting this story to go that well. Thanks a lot! Time to reply to some reviews._

_Demonrally - I was completely sure I added that pairing in the a/n of the first chapter... Shows to prove that even slight things like that slip by my eyes. Curse you Word document and Google Drive!_  
_But yeah, that pairing is going to actually appear quite a bit. Because we all know Elizabeth makes a lot of requests. _

_Michael Lindemann - Thanks! I have to admit that's probably the funniest typo I've ever done to date. I should start paying more attention to any mistakes though. Keep my eyes peeled for them, and execute them once I find them._

_getoham - I don't mind all the questions! I mean I kinda like it when people pick up things and question 'who, what, when, where and why' and I actually didn't really think about what The Kirijo group and S.E.E.S crew would be doing about Minato. So thanks for bringing that up! That will make me think and add more stuff as I go._

___Hopefully I can answer these questions later on in the story, for now you guys will be left in the dark about Minato for a bit. (As my failed attempt to bring suspense and mystery. *Laughs*)_

_DeathChaos25 - That's actually not a bad idea! I actually might consider doing that for Minato in the future. I mean it would make sense because the Fool Arcana could mean 'Emptiness, but with limitless possibilities.'_

_Again thanks to everybody!_

* * *

Moments after leaving the Velvet Room, Minato opened his eyes, to find himself in another unfamiliar place. He stared at the ceiling, realizing that this isn't the hospital, thankfully. He sat up, observing his surroundings more. It had definitely appeared that he is in somebody's house. Minato had woken up on the couch in what might be the living room. He heard small footsteps coming closer, a young girl with her brown hair tied up into two pigtails had walked in, probably somebody who lives here.

"Oh! You're already awake?" The young girl was surprised, she walked over to the blue haired male, and sat down next to him. She placed her hand on his forehead for about a moment before speaking again, "You don't seem sick either." Minato tilted his head in confusion.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, but who are you?" He asked quietly to the girl next to him.

"I'm Nanako Dojima, cousin of big brother Souji!" She cheered with glee, Minato looked away and closed his eyes, wondering if this was where the 'Silver Fool' is staying. Also wondering what he said to Nanako about him. He could guess that he said something to do with 'Oh, we're old friends! Blah, blah, blah.' He could only speculate.

"Well, I'm not sure if your 'big bro' had already introduced you to me while I was sleeping, but my name's Minato Arisato. Nice to meet you Nanako." He gave his attention back to Nanako, and gave her a small smile, she giggled in return. Nanako then looked over at the television, which Minato didn't realize was even turned on. The television blared on about things that had happen in the past few days, then going over about the weather and such, before changing into commercials.

"Ah! Junes is on!" Nanako had jumped out of the couch and walked closer to the TV before sitting near in front of it.

_"At Junes, everyday is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Everyday's great at your Junes!" _The commercial for Junes sang, soon after Nanako was waving her hands around singing along.

"Everyday's great at your Junes!" She repeated happily, once the commercial was over she walked back and sat with Minato once again.

"You sound like you really like Junes. What is it anyway? A shopping mall?"

"Yeah, a really big shopping mall! They have almost everything at it! I love shopping there!"

"Maybe we can go together one day? I'd like to get familiar with this area."

Nanako jumped out from the couch once again, "I can show you around today if you like! I have to go buy groceries for dinner tonight anyway."

Minato got up from the couch as well, "Right now? Isn't late...?" He looked around for the clock, upon finding it, he was a tad bit surprised, "Oh, it's only five past five..." He heard Nanako walked to him, "How long was I sleeping for Nanako?" He took notice of the calendar right next to it as well, according to the calendar, the current month is July. Some of the days have been crossed out with a black marker, the first day that wasn't crossed out is Thursday the 7th.

"Hmm... Big bro brought you back somewhere around quarter to four... So I would say... About almost an hour."

Minato was actually expecting to be out for at least more than that, but then again most of the time was spent at the Velvet Room, which seems to pass like no time at all. Even if it did seem like he was in there for quite a bit. He shrugged it off.

"I see, but are your parents okay with you going out?" He questioned the younger brunette, Nanako nods. The both of them started near the entrance of the house were several number of shoes lay, Nanako grabbed her shoes and slide them onto her feet, Minato noticed his shoes were there as well, it didn't even occur to him that he was basically 'shoeless' at the moment. He picked them up and put them on straight away.

"Yeah, its fine as long we return before seven, dad sometimes returns late from work anyway. And Junes doesn't close until ten today so we should have enough time to go around and pick some stuff from Junes."

"Is that the case? Okay then I'll let you lead the way!"

Nanako nodded with excitement, she walked out of the house with Minato following next to her. The two of them walked around for a bit before Nanako stopped, apparently this is the first stop. Minato looked around, he found that there was an area that was filled with water, possible a riverbed.

"First stop in Inaba, the Samegawa Flood Plain! Down there you can go fishing. Sometimes big bro comes here to finish in the night-time." Nanako paused a bit and pointed into the distance, Minato could see a building, unsure to what kind of building it was. "Oh and if you keep walking down there, you'll reach Yasogami High, big bro and all of his friends go there."

Minato hung his head in disappointment, "Argh, I just realize I didn't prepare any transfer files..." He sighed, "What a shame I was hoping to go transfer tomorrow, but looks like that's delayed until Saturday..." Now that he thought about it, where he be continuing from? He technically didn't finish his year back in Gekkoukan High. Which might mean he would be in the Second Year... Or would he sent to the Third Year? He honestly doesn't remember how schools work. He just went and did the best he could in his ability.

"Transfer files? Oh maybe I can ask big bro to help you out!"

"That's really nice of you Nanako, but I think I can handle it on my own, I need to take action for my own responsibilities."

"Well... If you say so... Let's go to the next stop then!" She happily skipped her way around Inaba, Minato followed behind her once again. They walked around Inaba, for quite a bit, soon enough they reached another place in town, it seemed to be focusing more on business types of buildings from what Minato could see.

"Second stop is the Central Shopping District. This is where most family businesses run. Unfortunately the majority of them have closed down." Nanako explained, she continued to walk through the area, telling Minato what store contains what. He noticed a shrine next to what Nanako said to be the Tatsumi Textiles. His stared at it, instantly bringing back the times he would visit the Naganaki Shrine whenever he could.

Just looking at this shrine it's brought him so much memories, especially ones where he had spent time with Maiko and Akinari... They were both good and bad memories...

_"Everyone is waiting to die, if you think about it. ...Some just have longer to wait than others." _

_"It's a secret, okay? Don't tell Mom and Dad I'm running away. I know you won't tell."_

In his mind he replayed some sentences the two had said to him back in the past, instantly getting caught with the past. He felt a tug at his sleeves, which made him snap out of his reverie. He looked down over at Nanako, who wore a worried face.

"Um... You've been staring at the Tatsuhime Shrine for a bit... Is everything okay?" She asked softly, instantly worrying if there was anything wrong with the blue haired male. He nodded back at her slowly.

"I'm okay, the Shrine was just bringing some old memories back when I was in Tatsumi Port Island..." He subconsciously said to the younger female. "Sorry, shall we move on?"

"Um... Okay..." She simply replied, still worrying about Minato. But she kept walking him down the Central Shopping District. As Nanako continued to tell Minato what was what, he couldn't help but notice the ultramarine-door that stood in between Daidara Metal Works and Yomenaido Bookstore. It didn't seem to be being supported by any wall. It just _stood_there. Minato also noticed a very familiar person that stood in front of it, looking around seeming lost. Said person also happen to be Elizabeth. Minato seriously wondered what she is doing outside the Velvet Room.

"Um, could you go on ahead without me, Nanako? I'd like to buy some things while I'm here." He asked Nanako, she nodded seeming to regain her cheerful side once again.

"Sure! I'll just be waiting right near the bus stop down there." She skipped away happily once again. Minato smiled as he watched her enjoyed herself. Minato then walked over to the door of the Velvet Room, to where Elizabeth was standing.

She had noticed the male and smiled instantly, "Oh, there you are! I had been looking for you." Elizabeth looked around the scenery once more.

"I could guess this has to do with my belongings."

"Indeed they do! I've managed to sneak my way into your room to gather some supplies. This ranges from your weapons to your clo-"

Minato interrupted to prevent Elizabeth to giving him way too much information. "Oh, that's both terrible and great news! When can I get them?"

"I'm going to mail it to the Silver Fool and have him give it to you tomorrow. Oh yes, I almost forgot, I also managed to tamper with your history and also hand in any transfer files to Yasogami High."

"That's great, but I would've preferred to do hand in the transfer files myself." Something didn't feel right for Minato though, "Wait... Tamper with my..." He paused for a brief moment to process any data that did not hit him right in the head. "You did what?! Why did you do that? I didn't think that would really be necessary... Unless... You got to be joking."

"I believe if I didn't tamper with it, you would be considered a 'dead man roaming around Inaba.' And yes, as of right now you are walking around in the same body as you did before that fateful day. I apologize sincerely."

"Argh, I don't blame you Elizabeth... Since you are doing everything in your power to prevent people getting confused... But this is even worse!" He sighed in frustration, "So I was basically right when I said 'I didn't die' to Igor?"

"It seems to be that way. If I remember correctly, when you arrived in the Velvet Room last time, you was actually in a comatose state. Similar to the one you had after first summoning your Persona."

"...Oh dear god. It's worse than I expected. If I was comatose, then the S.E.E.S crew has probably been watching over me. And if my body were to go missing... Mitsuru is definitely going to execute me. That woman is probably doing everything in her power to find out what happened to me."

Elizabeth hung her head low, she wasn't really expecting to cause that much trouble. "I should've asked you before tampering with anything."

"It's alright. What's been done is done. Besides, though it may be a bad thing. I can potentially clear things up with Mitsuru. And basically find out what actually happened back then... Now I think about it, I'm kind of glad you did that. Ever since I woke up here, I've been confused to if this is my old body or if I somehow gained another body which had similar features." Minato pauses and chuckles a bit, "Besides, half of time I barely understood Igor's cryptic lines. I had only went along with it to see where it would lead me. With this, I think I can pursue the truth."

Elizabeth was left speechless with what Minato said, before laughing, "I see. Well then I wish you luck with your journey to find out the truth about yourself and to help out the Silver Fool." She opened the door of the Velvet Room, she was just about to walk in when she remembered something. "Oh and before I forget, I think I'll add in some quests for you to do in the future. I'd also like to see what this place has to offer like Tatsumi Port Island."

"Now you're just being absurd, I just came here myself and you're expecting _me_ to show _you_around Inaba... Geez it really is Tatsumi Port Island all over again." Minato crossed his arms and smiled, as Elizabeth's requests brings him back more memories.

"I'll look forward to our 'date' them. Until then I bid you farewell." She stepped into the Velvet Room, closing the door behind her. Minato sighed. wondering what he would say to Mitsuru if she was to find out about any of this. In any case scenario, she would probably, most likely, execute him.

Minato walked downward to where Nanako was standing near the bus stop sign, for some reason, it looked very identical to the one that Elizabeth gave him as a prize on finishing a quest. And he had used it quite a lot against the shadows, it literally became his favourite weapon, along with the Sin Blade. Every since Minato started to favour both battle axe-like weapons and one-handed swords over the other weapons he could use. (Which consist of, bows, boxing gloves, rapiers, two-handed swords and spears.) He wished he knew how to handle guns and knives. Only then he could be, 'the master to hold all the weapons, which the S.E.E.S crew could use.'

Regarding that, Minato told Nanako he was ready to leave the Shopping District. Nanako smiled, "Okay! Then our last stop will be at Junes!"

* * *

_A/N: And that marks another chapter! Nanako is so adorable, who here just wants to hug her and be all like; "D'AWWW YOU'RE SO SHORT AND ADORABLE!"_

_Also! How do you guys feel about P3 movie and P4Anime ep 26/No one is alone? __**(Try not to spoil please!)**_  
_I felt kinda disappointed__, t__o be fairly honest._  
_I mean, it felt very weird that they played I'll Face Myself (Battle, Reincarnation version) in the last battle._  
_Wouldn't it be more fitting if they used The Genesis? _  
_It's kinda like playing Normal battle music in the last battle of P3 instead of Burn My Dread (Last Battle)_  
_It doesn't make sense nor does it fit._

_I mean yeah, Persona 4 Never More: Reincarnation is a great soundtrack. And I love I'll Face Myself Reincarnation and Reverie Reincarnation._  
_It just seemed unfitting to place it in that battle._

_Idk just my 2 cents._

_With Persona 3 Movie though... I don't know man, I don't know how to feel about it. Once they announce the time length, maybe then I know how to feel._

_That's all for this author's note! (Though it's quite a more random one) Thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	4. Chapter 4

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Four; TV Shenanigans

* * *

_A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to another chapter of Ft3tt4! Thanks to those who shared their two cents on the P3M and P4A ep 26, it was nice to read what other's thought about it! Time to reply to some reviews!_

_DemonRally - That's actually a pretty neat concept... But once again I can't answer any questions. I will say however that the Dark Hour is gone, however the Arcana is which all is revealed- Okay no I can't come up with a joke with that, I'll just stop before I make terrible puns._

_Also I'd be lying if I said I denied Elizabeth in her last date request. (I was not expecting to take her into our/Minato's room out of all things in my first play through of P3.)_

* * *

"And that's it for Junes!" Nanako was still jumping with joy. "I'm off to go grab some groceries. I'll meet you at the entrance when I'm done."

"Are you sure you don't need any help with picking them up?"

"No it's perfectly fine, but I can handle it on my own! Thanks for the offer though."

Nanako happily skipped away into the mall, holding onto a shopping bag as she went. Minato smiled at how mature Nanako was for her age. "She really does remind me of Ken and Maiko..." Minato muttered to himself, "Inaba really seems to have many things that I remember back in Port Island... It's like a major case of déjà vu."

Minato stood silent, seeming to get lost in thought once again. He had stay like that for at least a minute, before shaking it off and decided to take a look around Junes to see what it has to offer. Minato walked over to the electronics area, who knows, he might find a new mp3 player, although he wouldn't dare to replace either his mp3 player or clip-on earphones, even though both of the items are pretty old at this point.

"Besides, why would I throw out a wonderful gift from..." Minato paused, restraining himself to remind him who got the gift for him in the first place. "Heh, if she saw me now, she would tell me to keep smiling without hesitation, regardless of the situation..." He chuckled to himself lightly, trying to keep the mood bright up for himself.

"The coast looks clear... I should go signal the others that it's safe to come out."

Minato turned around, hearing something faint come across from the Television Section, he decided to take a closer look to see what was going on. Minato quickly sneaked his way into the section behind the Television Section, he made it to the side of the shelves, carefully taking a peek to the side.

Next to one of the TV screens was a male with brown hair. He wore what seemed to be orange headphones around his neck. From looking at his clothing, he seemed to be a high school student. The male walked closer to the TV, tapping on the side of it three times before stepping back.

Seconds later there was a leg that stepped out of the screen of the TV, before a whole body came out, leaving Minato speechless, was he hallucinating? He pinched himself hard on his arm, once it brought a little pain, Minato hissed quietly, trying not to give away his position. "This can't be right though. Since when could people step _inside _and _outside_of a TV?" He whispered quietly to himself, "Man at this point I think I've seen everything."

Minato kept watching the scene in front, the 'body' that had came out was another male, seemingly taller than the brunette, he had his blonde hair combed back, "He almost looks like Theodore..." Minato thought, remembering how he had ran into the younger brother of Elizabeth sometimes in the Velvet Room. He recalled the one time he had to take him around Tatsumi Port Island since Elizabeth requested Minato to do so. Later on it was revealed that Elizabeth recommended Theodore to take a look around and had no one else to do the job but Minato.

He will never understand the majority of Elizabeth's strange requests.

Minato payed attention to the Theodore-look-alike. He seemed to be wearing the same clothing as the brunette minus the fact that he wore a black sweater, and seems to be wearing his jacket like if it was a cape. Perhaps he was a high school student too? "He also looks like he came from a biker gang..." Minato noted.

Minutes later there were two more people who had jumped out of the TV, which happened to be female. The female to the right had short light-brown hair, seemingly a brighter brown to the brown the headphones guy had, and she's wearing a green jacket, although her skirt seemed to look identical to the shirt the girl next to her was wearing.

The other female had long black hair, who wears a red sweater, as he noted earlier, she wore a shirt identical to the other female. More high school students? "I'm glad to see that they still carry the tradition of being able to add to your uniform..." Minato sarcastically thought.

Last but not least there was another person who jumped out of the TV... It was another male, Minato was shocked to see Souji, "What the...? What's he doing here? ...Or in _there_?" Minato covered his mouth, as he accidently said that out loud, he slid his way into the section behind the Television Section, hoping he didn't give away his whereabouts.

"Hey, didja hear anything just now Souji?" A rough voice spoke.

"Yosuke are you sure you checked the area?" Minato heard Souji spoke, thankfully at least one voice is familiar to him.

"Dude, don't just blame it on me! I went around the whole mall just to make sure! It's probably just your imagination." Another voice spoke, similar to the one who announced the area was clear.

"I'll go take a look around then. Worst case scenario is that somebody just eavesdropped on us." Souji sighed.

Minato heard footsteps coming towards him, he panicked for a bit before slowly making his way over into the next section. "I need to get out before things become worse... Hopefully Nanako is waiting for me at the entrance. I should make my way there slowly but quickly." He mumbled to himself, before walking to the other side of the section.

He then heard some footsteps fading away. "I've confirmed that nobody was behind us." Minato heard Souji faintly. Minato took a deep breath, thinking that he should be safe for now.

"Well, uh, how about the other sections behind this one? You know just to play it safe." This time it was a female voice Minato had heard, the battle isn't over.

Minato didn't bother to waste time, he quickly rushed into the section parallel across to him, then taking a sharp left. He then made his way to the checkout area, where he had saw Nanako lining up to pay for the groceries she had decided to buy, he walked casually to her, she noticed his presences and smiled. "Hey Nanako." He simply greeted her.

"Oh you're done looking around? That's good. We'll head straight back home then after this." Nanako was picking up the remainder of some items left in the shopping bag, onto the table where the cashier would check the price. Minato lend her a helping hand.

Minato noticed that some of the items Nanako picked up were coincidentally ones that could be used into a dish that he had learnt from Shinjiro, after Minato had taught Fukka some dishes he knew how to cook. Suddenly an idea popped into his head.

"Nanako, is it alright if I could cook tonight? I know this great dish a friend of mine taught me. I think you would enjoy it."

Nanako looked at Minato with shock, "Wow you know how to cook as well?!" She giggled, "I would love to try it out!"

"I'll be sure to make it a dish you'll never forget. However I think I will acquire some assistance in making it. Want to help out?"

"Of course! Let's work together to make the best dinner in the entire world!" Nanako bounced, seeming to really enjoy herself. Time seemed to freeze for Minato once again, he heard something shatter in the back of his mind, which brought back the mysterious voice to speak once again.

_I am thou and thou art I..._

_Thou hast re-established the Justice Arcana._

_Thou shalt have our blessings once again, when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Justice Arcana._

The voice had vanished, which for Minato, resumed time. Minato smiled, while he wasn't expecting to form a Social Link with Nanako, but in the back of his head, he would've laughed if it had been the Hanged Man Arcana instead, thinking then everything would really be a major case of déjà vu.

Once Nanako had paid for her items the two left Junes, and walked their ways back home. Once the two settled back inside, Minato took note of the time, the clock showed that it was currently 6:13. "Hmm, I should get started with preparing dinner... Nanako could you tell me where the utensils are being kept?" He turned to Nanako, who was grabbing some plates and bowls from a cabinet.

"They should be in the cupboard under the sink. If not they might be in the cupboard next to the fridge." She called back to him.

"Thanks Nanako." Minato first went to the cupboard underneath the sink, there laid many pots, sauce pans, it almost looked like they have all of the pots Minato could remember. Minato grabbed the necessary items he needed, and get started on making dinner, he didn't really remember the name for the dish, and he recalled what Mitsuru said at the night it was served for dinner. _'I'm surprised you learnt how to cook a French dish this well, Aragaki. I wasn't expecting to have Baeckeoffe tonight. Très bon.'_

Minato didn't even want to try pronouncing the name, he probably would end up butchering it as 'Ba-ick-coffee'. He called over to Nanako to start helping him out with some of the ingredients. They started peeling and chopping the potatoes when they heard the door open.

"Nanako, I'm home." A voice called, Minato didn't pay much attention as he was too busy with the potatoes. Nanako stopped briefly to leave and greet whoever just came in.

"Oh welcome home, big bro!" She cheered, the two of them engaged to a conversation.

"Wow, it smells pretty nice in here. What are you cooking Nanako?"

"I'm just helping out today. Minato said he'll be cooking today."

"Oh so he's awake... That's good. Do you need any help?"

"Nope! I promised to Minato that we'd work together to make the best dishes!"

"Ha-ha, I see. I'll look forward to it then."

Minato heard footsteps, as he threw both the chopped potatoes and lamb into the pot, he started to stir it a bit before adding some of the spices and white wine, he stirred the whole thing, before leaving it to cook for a while long, he got a timer and set it to one hour. He then washed his hands before taking a seat near the dining table. He saw Nanako make her way to sit in front of the TV to watch some of the News, and occasionally, the Junes commercial. Minato looked over to his left to see that Souji has made his way to sit on a chair next to him.

"How are you feeling Minato?" Souji asked Minato, he stared at Souji a bit, still not believing what he had saw earlier in Junes.

"Hmm? I feel fairly refreshed. In fact I think I'll be able to fight along with you tomorrow."

"Really? Well if you say so. Remind me to show you around tomorrow as well."

"There's no need, Nanako already did a tour guide."

Souji laughed, "Seriously? I should've figured as much... Well then, instead I'll introduce you to the others. Oh yes, I should probably go to Daidara's to get you a new weapon... Do you just use one handed swords?"

"Not really, I could basically use anything you give me excluding guns and knives. I prefer to use one handed swords and battle axes though, if that helps."

"Seriously? Could you name all the weapons you have experience fighting with? Just out of curiosity."

"Ah let's see..." Minato started to count with his fingers, "Other than one handed swords and battle axes, I could use bows, boxing gloves, two handed swords, rapiers and spears."

"That's a wide variety you got there, what's up with that?"

"I kind of like to spice things up. Use something new every day kind of thing."

Souji nodded, "Interesting. I'll see what I can grab for you."

Just then something rang, Minato stood up from his seat, "That's the timer... Food should be cooked now." He made his way back to the kitchen, to check up on the food that was still cooking. He stirred the whole thing a couple times before turning the gas off. Minato grabbed some plates that Nanako had gotten from the cupboard earlier, before he could divide it evenly he heard the door open once again.

"Oh that's Dad!" Nanako shouted from the living room before running to the entrance.

"I'm back from work, Nanako... I've manage to come home early." Nanako's father spoke, feeling exhausted from work.

"Just in time too! Dinner is being served!"

The two walked inside, and to the dining table. The father of Nanako noticed a new face.

"Oh and we have a guest too... Care to introduce me, Souji?" He turned to Souji, who nodded and started to explain.

"This is an old friend of mine, he just arrived in Inaba. He'll be staying here for the night."

"Right, welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. It's nice to meet you." He extended his arm towards Minato, he reached out and gave a short handshake.

"Thank you. My name's Minato Arisato, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Dojima." Minato spoke up and returned to placing the food onto the plates, carefully dividing it up into fours. He heard Ryotaro Dojima let out a small chuckle.

"There's no need to be formal, you can call me Dojima. Just make yourself at home for the time being."

Minato nodded, he returned to the dining table serving the plates, with the help of Nanako. Once all the plates were set, Dojima seemed to look surprised, "And I'm guessing you cooked this as well?" He questioned Minato.

"With the help of Nanako. Thanks again for helping me." Minato replied, looking at Nanako with a smile.

"It was really fun!" She clapped with joy, "Let's eat, let's eat!" Nanako picked out her fork, instantly grabbing hold of a potato and ate it. She chewed on it before gasping, "It's really delicious!"

Souji was now curious and ate a piece of his own, "That's really impressive. I believe this is a French dish, Baeckeoffe if I'm not mistaken."

Minato clapped, "Bing-bing! You certainly know dishes very well. You should be rewarded with the Jackpot of nothingness."

"After all that hard work and I still didn't get any Jackpots of nothingness." Souji pouted.

Minato couldn't stop laughing, it had been a long time for him ever since he spent a day with a family. And now that he has experienced it once again, he already felt right at home. Time had flown by so quickly, he didn't even notice that it started to become night time. Once the four had finished off their dinner, Minato washed the dishes with the help of Nanako and Souji packing it away.

Soon enough it was time to hit the hay. Minato decided to sleep on the couch in Souji's room, upon after joking about 'how the floor is actually made of lava.' Even though the real reason was that there weren't any spare futons, or anything to sleep comfortably on. He didn't even bother changing, He was just there on the couch, ready to sleep. Souji thought he was only being childish or lazy.

While everybody was resting there was only one who stayed up for a bit longer, that being of Ryotaro Dojima, who stayed downstairs after dinner, watching TV from the couch. "It's best not to jump into conclusions... But I think he's the guy." He spoke softly into a cell phone.

_"So he is still alive after all... I'll come over to Inaba as quickly as possible to talk further about this situation. Merci et adieu." _The sound of the phone hanging up was heard, Dojima closed his phone and setting it aside. He sighed, seriously thinking about how his nephew manages to get his nose into everything.

The night pressed onward. Minato had waited for the time to come, Souji was already fast asleep, and he knew he should've just slept after all the walking around, but there was one last thing he needed to test out. He waited for the clock to strike midnight, it was only seconds away. The clocked ticked silently, as it grew closer and closer to twelve. Once it did Minato waited a bit, before getting up from the couch carefully, and walking over to the window, taking a peek outside. The scenery outside didn't change at all. It was just dark, like a normal night would be.

"The Dark Hour is over... So they did manage to get rid of it..." Minato told himself in his mind, but in the end that just made him more confused. "Both Tartarus and The Dark Hour is gone... Yet there are still shadows... Maybe the whole TV thing has to do with everything?" He continued a conversation in his head. "Why am I even thinking about it? Souji will tell me what's going on tomorrow, so why do I need to worry about the details now?"

He sighed, he walked over to the couch once again and decided to lie down and sleep. Like he said to himself; He'll worry about everything tomorrow, all he needs now is a bit of rest.

He turned over to his side, finding it more comfortable to sleep in this position, he started to close his eyes, and waited for morning to rise.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for chapter 4! Gosh I've been way into writing this story a lot lately. I'm kind of surprised that I've basically almost updated this story daily. Usually I get lazy, and update my stuff like what? Once a month or fortnight or something like that... I have to say this is some kind of huge improvement._

_I'm not sure if my French is 100% this chapter, but it should be pretty close, I'm just running information from a French teacher that's teaching me this year in music. She's a pretty cool person! She teaches me some French (Mainly because I never picked up a second language outside of home.) and music. I don't really know if you need translations, but here you go anyway._

___Très bon. = Very nice.  
__Merci et adieu. = Thank you and farewell._

_That's it for this author's note! Thanks for reading and see you guy's next chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Five; Why is he in Inaba?

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter! Thanks to all whom favourited, followed and reviewed. Seriously guys I can't thank you enough. _

_Michael Lindemann - Hm, I'll keep that in mind. I should really go back to replay or watch a Let's Play of P4 to keep some of the canon stuff going and not do stuff from memory. I like to think that Nanako would try to act older around other people/strangers and that Souji teaches her to cook from time to time, but pfft- head cannons, they never do me any good. I need to remind myself to not write during in the middle of the night, because I end up writing stupid things for stupid reasons._

* * *

Meanwhile in a dorm far away, the night was still high up, eight people plus a dog was having a so called 'reunion'. During the reunion a phone began to ring. A red haired woman got up from her seat.

"Excuse me for a moment." She pardoned herself to the others; she walked away from the area and opened up her phone, wondering who would be calling at a time like this.

Yukari, a female with light brown felt curious, she looked over to another female, who had blonde hair, she was about to quietly gossip to the blonde, however she was faster to start the conversation between the two.

"Do you think it's about him?" She said going straight to the point, the light brunette only lowered her head.

"...She's still looking for him, huh?"

"That's Mitsuru for us." A silver haired male faced the two, joining in their conversation. "Once she gets into something she will do anything to get it done." A faint sigh was heard, coming from across the room.

"I'm sorry but could you tell him to call me later or arrange an appointment?" Mitsuru yelled, becoming a little furious, the others stared at the commotion. She then became dead silent, "What? If that's the case then please send him through."

A female with teal green hair, whose name was Fuuka, was typing into a laptop, seconds later she closed it down, "If anything I wouldn't be surprised if it was about Minato. Mitsuru did try to get everyone she knew to find out why he had just disappeared like that." She spoke quietly to the others.

"I'll come over to Inaba as possibly then to talk further about this situation. Merci et adieu." Mitsuru hit the end call button and started to dial another number, "I'd like you to postpone any meetings I have for the next week. I'm heading to Inaba tomorrow morning."

_"Mitsuru you can't just postpone the meetings-"_

She closed the phone and walked her way to the rest. "Hm, I wasn't expecting them to report so suddenly." She muttered to herself, taking a seat in the couch.

"What was that all about Mitsuru?" The light brunette questioned, everyone in the room looked over to the red haired woman.

Mitsuru crossed her arms, "A Detective from the Inaba Police Department has reported that Arisato may be in Inaba. According to him Arisato had just arrived there around midday."

"Inaba? What the hell is he doing over there?" Mitsuru glanced over to where the voice came from, a couple of footsteps walked their way down from the stairs, it turned out to be Junpei, a man who wore his baseball cap pretty much wherever he went, beside him was a younger boy, being Ken, the youngest member of the former S.E.E.S crew. Ken walked over to the white dog that sat near the TV.

"Hello Koromaru, do you want to go out of a walk later on?" He happily smiled at the dog, who in return yapped in agreement, the other male walked over and stood behind the couch where Fuuka was sitting on..

"I'm not too certain myself, Iori, but I will be heading there straight thing in the morning. Hopefully I can find out what had happened and ask him about the other Arisato." Mitsuru replied to him, the female with blonde hair stood up quickly from her spot.

"Mitsuru please allow me to come with you!" Aigis insisted, Mitsuru only shook her head in disagreement.

"You should stay here Aigis, I understand you're still worried about him. But you shouldn't need to worry. I'll bring him back here."

Aigis sat back down in disappointment. Yukari then took this moment to speak next, "What are you going to do if it's not him though?"

"I'll execute the detective in return of all the appointments I would miss." She replied in a serious tone, Junpei started to laugh awkwardly.

"Man, Yuka-tan, what were you expecting? This is Mitsuru, 'executioner of all'."

"Ugh... Seriously Stupei? I thought I told you to quit calling me 'Yuka-tan'." Yukari sighed, slightly angry at Junpei.

The two started to engage into their iconical arguments, while this was happening, Aigis tried to calm down the two along with Fuuka. The male with silver hair got up from his seat and walked past the noise to Mitsuru.

"How will you tell him about Hamuko? If they are relatives, Minato would probably think that she died along with their parents... Actually, I'm more curious how you will tell him that she died in order to become a seal to prevent Cerberus getting to Nyx." He glared at the red haired, who sighed.

"I was afraid that you'd come and remind me about what we learnt in the Abyss of Time, Akihiko. But I'm still not sure how I will approach it though, I think I'll bring up her name and see where I can go from there."

Akihiko laughed, "I still think that you overreacted when you got almost everybody including the Kirijo group involved to search for him. I wasn't expecting the news to hit Inaba Police Department as well though."

"Remind me to appoint a time to execute you." She chuckled back, she looked over to the clock that was pinned to the wall, it just struck midnight. But as expected there wasn't any change. "My, time really flies past very fast..."

"It still freaks me out to this day, I get worried that the Dark Hour might return, or have the day to repeat itself again."

The night continued to press on as the former S.E.E.S crew had enjoyed their small reunion, soon enough they all had to leave, wishing to stay in their old dorm for a while longer. Mitsuru decided to not waste any time and head straight to Inaba.

Once the sun rose, back in Inaba, both Minato and Souji were walking to Yasogami High as early as possible, mainly so Minato knows what class he is in, and so that Souji could show him around the school, and let him in on what's going on. The two walked their way to the Faculty Office, where Minato went in to talk with a teacher, Souji waited outside patiently.

Inside, a teacher noticed Minato's presence, "My, you must be the transfer student, you've come fairly early... I also can't seem to shake the feeling that we've met somewhere before..." The teacher spoke, Minato couldn't help but think if he actually met the teacher somewhere before. It then hit him.

"...Isn't she that one woman we ran into when Junpei, Akihiko and I commenced 'Operation Babe Hunt'?" He thought, he shrugged it off, "That still has yet to be a decision I regret making in my entire life."

"No I don't believe we've met before... Ms..."

"Ms Kashiwagi, I'm actually quite new here myself, I'll be substituting a bit before commencing any Biology classes, anyway enough about me, let's see what the files have to say for a handsome fella like you." Ms Kashiwagi walked over to a desk filled with folders, she gathers them all and goes through them until she found the correct folder, "Minato Arisato, Minato Arisa... Ah here it is." She places the other folders back down and walks towards Minato. She opened it up and skimmed through it. "Oh my, you've transferred all the way from Gekkoukan High? Hmm how interesting it does say you've travelled quite a bit too... And let's see your family..." She gasps closing the folder quickly. "Such a tragedy to happen to a fine man like you..." She muttered. "Sorry I didn't get the time to read through this last night."

Minato sighed to himself, frustrated that teachers would often bring this up when he had transfer into a new school. This seriously has to be the third or fourth time now, he couldn't really bother counting after his transfer to Gekkoukan. Ms Kashiwagi had already changed her attitude from being sympathetic to creepy and or flirty like.

"It looks like you'll be in the Third Year, Class 3-1. Hmm, yet you never finished your Second year... Are you sure you want to-"

"Thank you for your time!" Minato power walked straight out the Faculty Office shutting the door shut fast. Souji had jumped from not expecting the door to slam close like that. Souji looked at Minato.

"What happened in there?" The Silver Fool questioned the Marine Fool, Minato stared back at him with confusion.

"Nothing really. I feel like my personal space was demolished from talking with Ms Kashiwagi though..."

"Ah, I'm not surprised, she does that to a lot of the male students here. Regarding that though did she at least give you the Class you're in?"

Minato crossed his arms remember what she said, he honestly stopped paying attention after she tried to sugarcoat the death of his parents and sibling. "I think she said Class 3-1, that would be on the third floor right?"

"Yes, I'll show you the way later, we have some time to spare, so let's go find a spot and I'll start to fill you in with what's going on."

From there, Souji lead Minato up to the Rooftop, once there, Souji gave a brief speech about things like the Midnight Channel and things related to it in a nutshell. It did leave Minato wanting to ask some questions, however Souji requested him to save it for later, when they can all trade questions in lunch and after school.

The two had to separate once the bell had rung, signalling that school was going to commence in another five or ten more minutes. They went to their respective classrooms.

Souji, who was in Class 2-1, was on his way to his class, when he had found Yosuke walking over to him with Chie and Yukiko.

"Oh, you were here after all this time? I'd thought you were sick or something. Sheesh way to scare me." Chie was the first to speak, standing in her signature stance; hands on her hips.

"All just because I wanted to come to school early..." Souji chuckled, then activating 'investigator mode' or 'pursuing truth mode' as Yosuke and Chie would call it, "Regarding that, I want everybody to join up in the rooftop at lunch. There's somebody I'd like to introduce to you."

"Oh so he's already recovered?" Yukiko started, feeling a bit surprised.

"Yes, in fact he's here in school today as a transfer student."

The second bell rung once again, it echoed across the whole school, "That's the bell, we should get inside class..." Souji muttered, mostly to himself, even if the others could understand what he said, they nodded and walked into their class. The moment Yosuke had sat down he instantly wanted the day to be over.

* * *

_A/N: And that makes another chapter! I still despise dialogue, I can just never, ever, ever, in my life, try to stop it mid way, to add things to show how the character is acting, saying their line. ect._

_Plus I remember this one time I wrote a complete OC story._

_The dialogue._  
_IT WOULDN'T STAP._  
_I TOLD MYSELF ABOUT DIALOGUE BRO.  
I WARNED MYSELF DOG._

_*cough* Anyway terrible sorry for a sucky short chapter, hopefully I should be able to write some shadow slaying action next chapter._  
_Until then, see you guy's next chapter!_


	6. Chapter 6

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Six: The Investigation Team.

* * *

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter of Ft3tt4! Nothing much to say in this beginning author's notes so I'll just answer/reply to some reviews!_

_MKTerra - Hmm, I'll think about! Although I doubt that I will add that in. _

_DeathChao25 - I don't think anybody wants to be on the receiving end of Mitsuru's execution._

_grandshadowseal - I actually went ahead and made a silly comic out of that idea on my tumblr xD__  
_

_DemonRally - __*facepalm* Always getting Cerberus and Erebuss mixed up... This is seriously the fifth time I got those two mixed up and I still haven't learned my lesson!_

* * *

As the class lecture went on and on, never seem to be ending at all, Souji was paying attention to what the teacher had to say, jolting down any notes if needed, he felt a surge of energy pass through him as his levels of knowledge have increased slightly. Chie, who sat on a desk next to his, occasionally asked him questions to further explain what the teacher meant in an easier, understandable way. She thanked him for his help, even if she still doesn't understand some parts.

It felt like forever before the bell finally rang. Notifying the students that lunchbreak had finally began. Yukiko had left the class to go let Kanji know about the 'meeting' the team had on the rooftop. Minato had already arrived at the rooftop, being on the third floor. Once he had found a comfortable spot, he sat down and waited.

Soon enough Souji along with the rest of the Investigation Team, had arrived at the rooftop, some had sat down near Minato while people like Kanji stayed standing up.

"This should be everyone..." Souji started speaking, "Everybody introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself. I'll start. My name is Souji Seta, and I am the leader of the Investigation Team. My Initial Persona is Izanagi but I can wield other Personae."

"Dude! What kind of intro is that?" Yosuke shouted at Souji, "Well then I guess I'm next then. I'm Yosuke Hanamura, and... I..." Yosuke scratched the back of his head, trying to think of something to add. "Well my father is the manager of Junes... Ah screw it. My Persona is Jiraiya. So uh it's nice to meet you."

Chie laughed at him, "Seriously Yosuke? This isn't the time to be advertising Junes. My turn then, I'm Chie Satonaka. I am a huge fan of kung fu and I like steak... Oh! Forget I said that... The Persona I have is Tomoe Gozen." Chie then looked at Yukiko telling her that it's her turn.

"Oh, it's me now?" Yukiko softly spoke, "Um, well I'm Yukiko Amagi... I mostly help with my family business at the Amagi Inn... I think that's all... My Persona is Konohana Sakuya."

"Kanji Tatsumi and my ma runs a textiles shop." Kanji said without regrets. "If you have any problems with that then you can tell my Persona, Take-Mikazuchi and he'll beat some sense into you!" He shouted but it was more put into a joking manner.

Minato chuckled, "So I'm last huh? Well, I'm Minato Arisato and as of today I will be a part of the Investigation Team, you don't need to tell me much, Souji has already told me the basics to what's going on. Last but not least, my Persona is Orpheus; however I also have the ability to wield many Personae."

Yosuke's eyes widened at that fact, but then remembered something, "Figures, that would explain why I had this funny feeling when you summoned that one Persona to heal yourself. Out of curiosity though could you summon all the Personae that Souji could use?"

"Hmm, I don't believe I can use the same Personae he can, but I think there are a couple Personae we can both summon..."

Yosuke nodded, Chie then put up her hand, "...Why did you use a gun to summon your Persona?"

Minato tilted his head, "Huh? Oh!" He reached into his jacket and pulled out the same 'gun' he'd used to summon his Persona. "Actually this isn't even a real gun. It's an Evoker... How do I explain this? It's a device mainly used to summon Personae..." He explained, before thinking of a question, "How do you guys summon your Persona?"

Souji stepped forward, "It's a bit weird to explain, but the bases of it is that we have cards, we smash it, Persona appears, although we are limited to summoning them inside the TV world."

Minato nodded before muttering, "Maybe Igor, Elizabeth or Margaret could tell me how that works."

"Since your method to summoning Persona is different to ours, could you summon outside the TV world?" Yukiko asked. Curiosity started to fill the team up.

"I should be able to, expect I never tried to summon at a time like this..." The team gave him a strange, curious look, wondering what he meant by 'at a time like this'. Minato stood up from his spot, pressing the Evoker to his right temple. "Let's find out."

"Orpheus!" Minato shouted before pulling the trigger, there was a soft glass shattering sound that came out, soon enough there was a soft transparent image that appeared of the said Persona. Orpheus reached for his lyre carefully, then playing a soft tune with it. Minato smiled before thanking it quietly. Orpheus nodded before slowly disappearing.

Minato placed the Evoker back into its holster before sitting back down, "Looks like I can summon out here. Thankfully no one else is here to hear or witness that..."

Yosuke looked pretty surprised of how cool that looked, "Woah, that's pretty sick..."

"I have a few questions of my own, especially about the Midnight Channel." Minato looked over at Souji, "You said you first heard about it from Chie as a rumour. I'm curious to where the rumours even started."

"Well, I heard it from a few classmates back in late March and early to mid April. How did they say it again? 'Did you hear? Some people say they saw this male in the TV at midnight when it was raining back in March. Supposedly the person who shows up is suppose to be your soul mate' I believe that was it." Chie stated, Yukiko gasped.

"Oh! Now I think about it, in March the 31st, that was when the first Midnight Channel was on."

"What? There was one before that announcer?" Yosuke almost shouted, "Since when was that a thing?"

Minato looked at Souji, who shrugged, having no idea what they're talking about either.

"Oh I think I remember now! " Yukiko gasped again, "I remember accidentally watching that night, if I remember correctly the person who showed up kinda looked like you, Minato."

Minato tilted his head to the side, "Huh? Really?"

"If that was the case, then he could've been thrown in to... That would explain why we found him in the TV world... Err... It's just a thought though." Chie added.

Minato shook his head, "That can't be the case; I only had woken up in the TV world yesterday. If I had been there every since March, then there is at least a four month gap. I could've been easily killed by a shadow or The Reaper during that time. Unless the area I was in was safe from shadows, then I don't see any other possibilities that I could've been in there for such a long period of time."

"Unless the TV world is like Tartarus where a day in reality would be one hour in there..." He said to himself in his head, he then thought of another possibility. "Maybe Elizabeth..." He shook his head, "No. I don't think so... I'll ask her anyway later on."

"Even so, Teddie would've been able to sense him earlier and not during our mission to save Rise." Yosuke brought up. The team hung their heads for a second, running out of ideas.

Yukiko walked over to Minato, "Minato, do you remember anything before you had been put or thrown into the TV?"

Minato shook his head once again, before wearing a small pained expression, "No... I don't think I was even aware I had been in there until Souji told me about everything."

Yukiko sadly nodded, "I see... If there's anything you remember please don't hesitate to tell us." Minato nodded back at her.

"Something doesn't fit though." Kanji spoke, everybody looked at him, "I mean we kinda figured that that most of the kidnappings had something to do with the media or that announcer, how does Minato fit into all of this? I don't think I've ever seen him on the news before..."

"Maybe it wasn't supposed to connect? If he had been the first victim, it could've been random before setting with the whole media thing." Souji brought up. "Of course this is just possibility and we actually don't know unless we have evidence to back ourselves up." He then looked over at Minato, "Unless Minato knows about being on the news before."

"Doubt it. I've probably would've still been in a comatose state before even awakening in the TV world-" Minato once again spoke too much. He sighed, prepared for the worse to come.

"C-Comatose? What happened? Yukiko's eyes widened in shock.

"No point in not telling you. I'd start from the beginning but I doubt I have enough time... So I'll give you the basics. Of my own journey." Minato started.

"Back in 2009 I was a member of a group called the 'Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.' Also known as S.E.E.S. It wouldn't take much to guess that I was the leader of said group. Our mission was to get rid of the thirteen Arcana Shadows that appeared on a Full Moon at Midnight-" Minato paused, shaking his head.

"No at the Dark Hour... The hidden 25th hour that only those who had to 'potential' to summon a Persona would witness. On November the 3rd, we were all at our final mission to defeat the last Shadow, The Hanged Man. However a group called Strega was there to prevent us from defeating it. We managed to beat them however; they took me down with them. I was shot, and I'm guessing I managed to survive, leaving me in a coma." He chuckled softly, "I should be thankfully I'm still alive by chance or fate..."

Yukiko covered her mouth with her hands, "That's just horrible..." She said quietly.

The team were quiet, not knowing what to say.

"...No point in reminiscing and worrying about my past, what happened had happened and nothing can change it. Right now we have something else to be worrying about. So let's get our heads back into that." Minato stated with a small smile. The Investigation Team nodded.

"Right, once we get into the TV world we got to be ready to face another shadow." Souji announced, the team once again nodded.

"I guess that means we'll all meet at the special headquarters after school." Yosuke finished off, with his iconic wink and smirk.

Just then the bell had rung once again. The team decided to split up and return back to their class. Time pass onward quickly. It actually didn't feel like it took eternity for school to end.

Minato had walked out from his class, and made his way down to the first floor, where he found Souji and the rest, looked like they just got down too. The team headed out, and actually had stopped by at Daidara's to grab anything new.

"Battle axes?" Daidara scoffed, "Of course I have them! Who do you think I am?" He laughed before grabbing out a piece of paper with a bunch of names written on it. "Here's what I have in stock."

Souji motioned for Minato to come over to him, while the others looked for a new weapon for them as well. Minato took a look at the list before noticing a familiar name. "Gaea's Grace... How much is it?"

"That one? That would be 243,000 yen."

Minato grabbed out his wallet, Souji almost stopped him saying that he'll pay for it, but Minato insisted that he'd want to pay for his own weapon. He grabbed out the necessary amount of yen before giving it to Daidara.

"Alright! A Gaea's Grace coming at you!" He said before leaving into the armoury to grab said weapon, moments later he had came back with a case, almost as twice as big as a guitar case.

He passed it over to Minato, who almost seemed to be carrying it with no problem.

"How are you doing with armour?" Souji asked him.

"Hmm, I think I should be good." Minato replied, before leaning in to whisper, "Although it's at the Velvet Room, so I might have to pick it up."

Souji nodded, then began to wonder if they would have some kind of small armoury in there, he shook it off, and he doubt Igor would allow it regardless.

The rest of the team managed to buy some new equipment for themselves too, and left Daidara's and headed straight for the 'special headquarters'.

They managed to sneak in with their newly acquired gear in - somehow - and headed straight for the Junes Food Court. They all found a spot and sat down, Minato laughed, "Really? Our 'special headquarters' is a food court? I'd admit I wasn't expecting anything fancy but seriously this just takes the cake."

Yosuke laughed along with him, "Hey come on now it's not that bad. At least we could eat before jumping in."

Souji chuckled, "Ah, I don't think it's necessary to confirm the situation but I'll repeat myself anyways. Our mission today is to save Rise, changes we have to fight her shadow is fairly high. Expect I haven't decided on a formation..."

"Well there's six of us plus a support right? How about we split into two groups, one would mainly focus on dealing damage while the other team focuses on healing and support. I could lead the healing team." Minato suggested.

Souji nodded, "That's a great idea. We'll divide into two groups of three then. Yosuke, Yukiko, I'm putting you into healing. Unless no one needs healing fell free to attack. Same goes for you Minato. Chie, Kanji and I will take the front row."

Everybody nodded. Seeming to agree with the plan, they all made it over to the Television section, where everyone stood near a certain TV. Yosuke went around to patrol for any witnesses and came back to tell them the coast was clear.

One by one everyone stepped/jumped in. When it was Minato's turn he hesitated, not sure how to go about jumping in. "Well, at least it's not like it replaces a school building at a hidden hour." He mumbled under his breath before being shoved in by Yosuke.

It felt like a few minutes had passed before he had landed harshly on a floor, he grunted and rolled over to the left before picking himself up. Seconds later Yosuke had also landed harshly, moaning a bit in pain before getting up and dusting himself off.

The team started to put glasses on, Minato tilted his head to why they did that, wouldn't the fog that surrounded them still be there? Regardless there was a figure that came towards them, "Oh there you guys are!" It yelled.

It walked toward Minato, he continued to stare at it. "Hi there! I'm Teddie. You must be our newest mem-bear!" Minato almost choked at nothing from the terrible pun, it was even worse than Itutsuki's puns.

The thing placed an object at his hand, it was a pair of glasses, Minato putted them on without aware that they were strange looking ones.

Yukiko burst into laughter, "Oh my god, Minato- That looks so funny on you. Snrk, hahahaha!"

Minato didn't understand what was going on and took them off to get a proper look at the glasses the figure gave him, he laughed. Teddie then gave him proper glasses, from what Minato saw they looked like blue reading glasses, he slide them on, he then understood why they wore it; to get rid of the fog.

"Woah, it's like wearing some kind of HD glasses... Well nice to meet you Teddie. I'm Minato." He smiled at the bear figure.

Minato walked over to the Velvet Room to quickly grab anything from there and got out quickly.

"Is everybody ready?" Souji asked everybody, the team nodded and a few "Of course!" and "Yeah!" came out in sync. Teddie nodded and led them back to 'Marukyu Striptease'. And prepared themselves to fight another shadow.

* * *

_A/N: And that's Chapter 6! Nothing much to say here other than excited to get Persona 4 Arena. Might Main Yukiko just because of this one video I saw, so hilarious. It was like this suppose to be 'How to play as Yukiko [With Commentary]' but it's a parody of her abusing fans. 'I BETTER BE CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK MY FAN. Fan, fan~, fan! Konohana Sakuya~ Fan~ Backing away, backing away. ALL ATTACK! PERSONNAAAA~ HEALL MYSELLLFFF~ Fan! Fire on the floor. Auto Combo~ Fan.' _

_There was one for Yu/Souji as well 'Zio. Zio... Zio. Persona. Izanagi... Jump... Zio... Slide on the floor... Auto Combo...~ Watch how far I can slide~ Well what do you think? That was at least 4 feet...'_

_I still laugh every time I see it. It never gets old._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	7. Chapter 7

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Seven; I am a shadow, the true self!

* * *

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter of From the Third to the Fourth! I can't stop thanking you all for all the support you've given me guys. This chapter gave me a bit of trouble which is why it took me a bit longer than a normal chapter would, since I am not familiar with writing fighting scenes with more than three people at most._

_Also I apologize if it's a bit sloppy, the day I'm working on this chapter happens to be my birthday. -7th of September for those who are in different time zones to me. - And let's just say that I'm not a great big fan of celebrating birthdays. Mainly because I hate it when people find it as an excuse to do whatever they want and use their birthday as an advantage... Ugh, pisses me off..._

_TheDanaDobreAKAToshiroLover - ( /watch?v=zTcwsYzvC1Y & /watch?v=4WJ2NnsygQ8 )_  
_Here they are for YouTube if you still haven't seen them, or you could just look up ShutUpAdachi on YouTube and you should find it in his/her channel. I'd send them through PM or reply, but fan fiction really does not like having me to send PM's and replies. (This is why I reply to them in beginning author notes) *sobs*_

_DemonRaily - AH WHY- *WEAK* TERRIBLE JOKES AND PUNS IS MY WEAKNESS! *DOWN!*_  
_*Laughs* But seriously though, I just spat out my entire drink onto my computer screen from laughing too hard from that._

_grandshadowseal - ( /notgomen )_  
_Find tinyurl on google and apply that to the end, it should send you to my tumblr and comic._

* * *

The team managed to get their way back to the 11th floor of the Marukyu Striptease, they all stood in front of a huge pink curtain with a heart shape printed in the middle. Teddie - who stood near the back of Minato's group, aka 'Healers and Supporters' - walked closed to the curtain and took a sniff for further investigation.

"I think that girl named Rise is ahead of here..." He started, still sniffing the area. "But I'm not certain..."

Souji nodded at the members of the Investigation Team, before pulling a cord to raise the curtain. Once the curtain was opened, they all rushed in, Souji's group being the front line followed by Minato's group from a few distances away.

They all stopped once they came into view of both Rise and her shadow standing on a platform, which had a rather tall pole in the middle.

"There is it!" Chie shouted.

"Look! Both Rise and her shadow is here too!" Yosuke pointed out, Souji's group ran in closer while Minato's group withdrew and stood in their positions.

The Rise in the yellow bikini laughed devilishly, _**"They're all watching! All eyes are on me now!"**_She sang in a bitter tone, Souji confirmed in his mind that this is her shadow.

The real Rise who was kneeling on the platform was clutching her head, shaking it from side to side, "Stop it..." She demanded softly.

Rise's shadow mocked her, pouting her lips, swaying her hand from side to side, _**"Awwww! What's the matter? You wanna show your stuff, don't cha?"**_ She questioned the real Rise, _**"How's this!?"**_She asked before swinging around to grab onto the pole, the dance she performed was somewhat awkward.

"Please... stop this..." Rise demanded softly again, continuing to shake her head side to side.

Her shadow stopped momentarily, yet still remained holding onto the pole firmly, she started to become irritated, but chuckled, _**"Ooooh! So she wants me to stop? That's so funny!"**_ She continued to mock Rise, _**"As if that's close to what you're really thinking, you little skank!"**_ The shadow of Rise putted a sour tone when she worded 'skank', Rise was about to object, however the shadow continued on,_** "You're me! And obviously, I'm you!"**_

"No... That's not true..." Rise denied, wincing, hoping that the insults would stop. Yet even so she has been insulted and has been sent multiple death threats, this was one that was crossing her line.

The shadow continued on with swaying around on the pole, laughing like a maniac,_** "Ahahahaha! C'mon, look! You can't tear your eyes away!"**_ She shouted at her, _**"This is me! This is who I really am! Not Risette, the fake celebrity! Look at the girl right in front of you!" **_The shadow spat out, continuing to vent out her true emotions, _**"I'm sick of being some airhead cliché who chokes down everything she's fed and takes it all with a smile! 'Risette'? Who the hell is she? There is no such person in this world! I'm no one but myself! C'mon look at me!"**_

"That's not true- I...!" Rise wanted to rebuttal, but found no words to flow out, regardless of her shadow interrupting her in either situation.

_**"Well then, I guess it's time to prove it. I'm gonna show it all off! Let my naked truth be burnt into your brains!"**_

Rise found the strength to stand up, and stomped angrily, "Stop... Stop it! You're..."

Chie gasped and stepped forward wanting to intervene, "No, stop! Don't say it!"

Neglectful to Chie's interference, Rise still continued to speak, as if Chie said nothing at all. "You're not me!" Rise yelled, finally almost snapping at her fake.

Suddenly, a strange sound was emerging, Shadow Rise stopped, a red aura started to emit around her as she started to continue to sway on the pole, and started to have a laughing fit.

_**"Heehee, ahaha! Aaahahahahaha! Here it comes! Now, I'm finally myself!"**_The red aura continued to gather around her, before covering the room with darkness momentarily. The moment the aura and darkness withdrew, Shadow Rise was replaced with a giant technicoloured person, who swayed upside down on the pole, somewhat bearing a resemblance to Rise, it had her hair, but the face was wearing what looked like to be a mirror as a mask.

Both groups split up and quickly rushed to their positions, while Teddie remained near the entrance for safety purposes.

_**"I am a shadow... The true self..." **_Shadow Rise spoke, _**"And now, the moment you've been waiting for! It's time to show you every last inch of myself! Heehee, and for our guests in the front row... I'll give you extra-special, extra-intense service!"**_

"Looks like she had issues of her own..." Yosuke muttered to himself, Souji, who heard what he said and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter who you are, you'll find walls blocking your path. Regardless we'll stop her shadow from going out of control!"

_**"Oh? You're going to rush the stage? What an ill-mannered guest... Maybe you're looking for an experience that's a little more intense!?" **_The shadow yelled.

"Teddie!" Souji yelled at Teddie, requesting for a scan.

"Understood! It's a tough one so be bear-ful!" Teddie yelled back.

Souji quickly summoned his Persona, Izanagi, to get things started, casting himself a quick Mind Charge. Yukiko was the next to move, although she was put on the 'Healers and Supporters' group, she recalled that she was free to attack if nobody required assistance, her Persona, Konohana Sakuya, doesn't know any supporting spells to buff up any of those in the 'Attacking' group.

"I am thou..." She spun around, breaking the Priestess card with her fan, said Persona appeared who spun around in a similar fashion of Yukiko. The moment the Persona finished a 360, fire gathered around the Shadow. She only cast a quick Agilao to deal some damage.

Shadow Rise was next in line, she spun downward to the bottom of the pole, continuing to move suggestively _**"Feast your eyes!" **_She shouted before a small amount of fire gathered near Yukiko, suddenly bursting out, she dodged swiftly since her strong point was fire.

"Beautiful dodge Yuki!" Teddie cheered her on dancing around like a fool, "Hama and Mudo spells doesn't seem to work against it! Avoid using it! I also don't seem to smell any weak or strong points so just use whatev-bear you can!" He shouted at both groups.

Souji sighed, expecting that to be the case, it would be too easy if they could just use Hama and Mudo spells on shadows since they are instant kill moves. Of course that was the case for the last four shadows they fought so why would he expect it to be different here?

He heard the sound of a Persona being summoned, which snapped him out of his daze, Kanji had just summoned Take-Mikazuchi with his folding chair. The black bulky Persona soon appeared to smash its own item, a lightning bolt, to send a Zionga straight to the Shadow.

Minato followed it up with his Orpheus to lower Shadow Rise's attack, while Orpheus did that, Jiraiya had flew in to swiftly punch the Shadow with a Sonic Punch. After that both Personae disappeared, waiting to be called upon again.

Shadow Rise moved in a similar fashion to how she did before, screaming 'Feast your eyes' again, ice pillars gathers and hit the team one by one, Yukiko had fallen down, as to being weak to ice, she also probably been the one out of all of them to take the most damage from the attack.

Yukiko was now on her knees shivering from the icy coldness from being touched by the ice pillar. Chie gasped lightly and was now irritated at the shadow.

A card with the Chariot on it soon appeared, only then to be destroyed by Chie's foot, as she planted her foot back onto the ground her Persona came to view and spun her weapon around, when it stopped identical pillars of ice soon came from the ground to only pierce the Shadow in front of them. It was just a quick Bufula.

Chie then ran over to Yukiko to lend her a hand, "Come on, up you go!" She said with a grin as she helped Yukiko back onto her feet, who then brushed off any dust on her skirt and stockings.

Yukiko smiled, "Thanks, Chie, I'll be careful next time."

Chie huffed and sighed in relief, and ran back over to the front lines, as much as Souji would've liked to heal the team back up, he decided against since he was in the Attack group and not in the Healer and Supporter group, instead he switched Personae over to Titania, and summoned her to cast Garula to the Shadow.

Yukiko ended up being the one to quickly patch everybody up with a small Media, everyone was probably fully healed up but beside her who is just near fully healed up.

Again Shadow Rise moved in a similar fashion as she did before, only to scream 'Take a look!' this time electricity shot around the room, taking down both Minato and Yosuke, managing to exploit their weaknesses. It didn't seem to even bother Kanji much, as being resistant to electricity.

"Ah! Minato, Yosuke!" Teddie growled at the Shadow, "How dare you!"

Kanji snarled at the fact that the Shadow managed to take two people down with one stone, thankfully Shadow Rise didn't get a once more to attack again, he summoned Take-Mikazuchi who rushed in and hit Shadow Rise with a Fatal End.

Minato cursed softly to himself as he stood back up, he switched over to a different Persona, and summoned Saki Mitama to use Mediarama to mainly recover his and Yosuke's health, and any health lost by other members. He would've gone to aid Yosuke, but it seemed that he managed to recover and get up on his own. Yosuke called for his Persona, whom spun around in his own fashion and sent his own Garula to the enemy.

Chie's Persona then took this chance to rush in and strike the Shadow with their weapon, nothing but a swift Skull Cracker to the Shadow's face.

_**"Ahahaha! Enjoying yourself? I got ways to go until I show my true self... You ain't seen nothin' yet!" **_Shadow Rise shouted at the group, before continuing its casual routine of sliding down the pole and 'dancing' suggestively like always. She shot a Bufula at Souji, which hit him, but it didn't look like it actually did anything to him. With his current Persona equipped, he was blocking ice no matter what.

He brushed it off as if it was just wind blowing by, then summoned his Persona, Titania again, to use another Garula at the Shadow.

Yukiko breathed heavily, as she was starting to run a bit low on her Spirit Points, she never really understood how it worked and why you started getting exhausted when you start to run low. She was about to summon her Persona, shaking off her sudden fatigue, when Minato stopped her.

"I want you to start conserving your Spirit Points, I'll pass you a Snuff Soul when I can. Don't push yourself too hard okay?" He told her softly, she almost snickered from the fact that he sounded exactly like Souji when he was giving orders, but she smiled and nodded.

"Got it."

She took his advice and threw her fan towards the Shadow, which actually did manage to damage the Shadow as if she used Agi on it. Just with a bit more power to it though. Her fan returned to her, acting like a boomerang, she then muttered to herself, "I should be careful not to break it..." Despite the fact it was handmade to be more metal and steel than fabric. She even requested that the bits holding the steel together to be kind of like knifes.

It was quite dangerous to handle in her book, but hey, she was using it to fit shadows, not to show it off and use it to cool her temperature down.

She chuckled at the thought of using it as a normal fan outside of the TV world and quickly discarded it. "That would just be silly..."

Shadow Rise started her casual routine of dancing, who shot a quick Zio at Chie, who took the hit head on, but wasn't damaged seriously, it felt only a graze to her, as she only flinched and stumbled back a few from the hit. Take-Mikazuchi made his way towards the Shadow, bombarding it with a Kill Rush.

Minato changed his Persona again, thinking healing wasn't necessary, since everyone was at alright condition, he summoned Sati, to spread a large Agidyne straight to Shadow Rise. Yosuke followed up with a windy Garula supposedly to 'spread the fire'.

Chie rolled her eyes, but smiled regardless, summoning her Persona to actually 'take out the fire' with a Bufula. But minority froze the Shadow in place. The ice broke off, instantly looking like that the Shadow regained its heat back.

Shadow Rise giggled before swinging around the pole, instead of doing her 'dance' routine, there was a small blast that encountered, it was a Mind Slash. Yukiko, Yosuke and Chie happened to dodge the attack. Unfortunately for the rest was hit by the blast. Unfortunately Souji and Kanji happened to be the ones to be inflicted with the side effects of the attack; Confusion.

Out of confusion and out of control, Souji made his way over to Yosuke to slap him with his katana. Yosuke only took minor damage but only had some minor bleeding from the cut that was now created on his right shoulder, he wincing in pain as it suddenly burnt.

"Souji and Kanji are out of control! Smack some sense into them before it gets worse!" Teddie warned the team.

Yukiko panicked and quickly summoned her Persona, and cured the two with Me Patra before anything else happened, Souji clutched his head with his non-dominant hand, groaning a bit, "I let my guard down..." He mumbled to himself.

_**"What...? I dealt all that exquisite pain and you're still not satisfied?" **_Shadow Rise complained, obviously not satisfied with what she did. _**"What a finicky guest... You might as well die then!"**_

She jumped down the pole and thrust a few times before moaning in delight, a few members of the team almost gagged at the sighted. Soon there was green light that gathered around each member, it wasn't a Garu type spelled, it actually looked more like a crosshair that formed.

_**"No touching allowed. Ahaha!" **_She laughed at them, Kanji raised his brow at the Shadow wondering what that was about, he shrugged it off and allowed his Persona to go off and deal some more damage to the Shadow. Much to his surprise his attack didn't seem to connect with the Shadow at all and missed.

"The hell?! My attacks aren't working!" He shouted it wasn't directed to anybody. It was more like cursing to himself for missing somehow. He could've sworn that the attack connect and hit the Shadow.

Minato took this chance to switch back over to Saki Mitama and healed everybody with another Mediarama, he felt something was nagged at him that something odd was going on. "Even though the attack hit, it missed... Did it somehow change its properties like the Emperor and Empress did?" He thought in his mind, then thinking of something else crazy, "...Or was the move that she used before analysed our moves? It did seem like something to scan us... The crosshairs... Ah!"

'Don't attack it's useless! It has analysed us and now it can anticipate our every moves!" He warned the team. Souji then realized what he meant.

"I had a feeling that's what it did... Guarding is our only option then!" He ordered to the rest.

The Shadow laughed in frustration. _**"So our nitwit guests has figured out my plans. How INSOLENT!" **_She spat at them, _**"Hmm, looks like I need you need severe PUNISHMENT!" **_It jumped down from hanging upside down, to standing next to the pole, swaging from it like she did before going berserk. Another green light scanned through the entire room, fading away as it went further out.

"It's scanning us again! Ooooh this is not good!" Teddie panicked, the team prepared themselves for what may happen next. Shadow Rise waved her hands about as if she just accomplished something.

_**"Woohoo! Analysis complete!" **_She cheered happily, _**"Okay, here comes my counter attack! See if you can counter attack this one, hmm?" **_She challenged them, before picking up the pole as if it was nothing from the ground and pointed it to the team. It somehow changed from being a single pole to looking like a very long 6 barrelled cannon, and pointed it towards the team.

"S-Stop it!" Teddie shouted at the Shadow, but it was too late. A loud explosion was heard, and engulfed the entire room with a bright light. A couple of screams and shouts were heard before it died down to being just complete silence...

* * *

_A/N: And that's Chapter 7! Sorry to leave it at such a cliff-hanger, but I wanted to divide Shadow Rise into two chapters; The fight, and then the stuff that happens after her battle. I feel kinda guilty for copying the games script, so I tried to change it around a bit and it didn't seem to work. Bah..._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	8. Chapter 8

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Eight: Your futile existence has no meaning

* * *

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter of From the Third to the Fourth! My god has it really been like a week and a few days since last update? I am terribly sorry, I was not expecting to be so distracted by Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend so freaking much._

_I blame Story Mode, Arcade Mode and Abyss Mode. Blazblue is just so much fun~ I wish I could play online but I get so shy and nervous... For those who are curious I main Lambda/Nu 11 and sub Tsubaki~ Argh I really want one of the icon packs, but it seems I can't buy shit because of the Xbox360 Teen Privacy settings. So sad bad dad._

_DeathChaos25 - I assumed that Shadow Rise's scanning ability would update any new information if Minato or Souji changed Personae. Then again I don't know since there wasn't any information regarding of how strong Shadow Rise's analyse would actually be or if it was similar to Lucia/Juno and Himiko/Kanzeon._

_As for Messiah and Orpheus Telos, yes Minato will obtain them. However my problem is how though. But thankfully we have ways to go until the two make an appearance._

_DemonRaily - I'm looking forward to all of these puns and not at the same time._

_Michael Lindemann- I think within early chapters I still used quotations even if it was either a thought or speaking out loud, because that's how I'm use to writing it. I could try to use an alternative like using 'quotation'+italics+thinking tag combination or something of the sort. But I've always used "quotation"+speaking/thinking tag method._

* * *

The sound of the explosion died out slowly, Teddie, who curled up in fear, slowly opened his eyes. He looked around the room, finding that the members of the team were thrown in several directions due to the explosion. They all lay on the floor injured. Upon further inspection of the room, several objects that were in the room, going from random props to the ceiling lights, are now broken into several pieces.

Teddie panicked, "I'm completely useless..." The bear muttered to himself, shaking in fear that his friends may be dead. He was slightly happy that some of the members groaned in pain, showing signs of surviving the burst of the explosion.

"You gotta be kidding..." Yosuke managed to cough out, struggling to get himself off the ground, with one last push up, he gave up, breathing out heavily, desperate to stay awake.

"How're we supposed to win...?" Chie muttered softly, trying not to talk too much to further injury herself.

"A-Are... Are we going to die...?" Yukiko said under her breath, almost wanting to admit defeat. She was weak, and so was her team. If only she could throw a Media to heal the team. But she didn't even find the strength to even get up.

"No! You guys can't die!" Teddie cried out to the team, if only he could help them himself, "What can I do...? Sonja..."

"Get out of here Teddie... Save yourself!" Sonja managed to scream back to the bear, who only continued to shake in fear.

"A-Abandon you..? Only I'd get away...?" Teddie shook his head, "I can't do that! Am... I going to be alone again...? No! That's not what I want!" Teddie continued to debate with himself with what he wanted to do. All he knew was that he didn't want to abandon his friends and become lonely again.

Another green light passed the room, a groan came out of Yosuke, it was clear to him that today, the eighth of July, was not his day.

"Shit! It's winding up again...!" Kanji shouted, warning the team that the final blow was going to occur soon, taking the team out once and for all.

"I... I..." Teddie stuttered, at this point the bear could find any words to express himself, he wanted to help his team and not feel useless anymore. What was he supposed to do? Just then he felt something pat his head. He turned his attention around, where he found the new party member, Minato, standing weakly next to him.

"Teddie, you're not useless at all. Persona or not, you're a 'beary' strong bear. Remember that for me okay?" Minato chuckled softly, his grip tighten around the Evoker he held, Teddie managed to smile a bit, nodding, then noticed that his weapon was laying behind him. What was he planning?

_**"Kikikiki! One more, one more! Here we go again!" **_Shadow Rise chuckled, _**"Goodbye... Forever!"**_The shadow held the pole-looking-cannon at the team once more, charging up the cannon once again.

"Aw shit... Here it comes!" Yosuke moaned in frustration.

Minato took his chance and ran in front of the team, "Not going to allowed that to happen!" He twirled his Evoker towards his temple, before stopping it, having it pointed towards his right temple. "Aid me..!" He shouted before pulling the trigger. The soft sound of glass shattering spread across the room, Minato stumbled, losing balance, as if the momentum of speed recoiled to him.

He almost fell to the ground, but managed to catch himself, right then not one, but two Personae appeared. The image of a seven headed snake and a male with four arms showed to be standing in front of the male who summoned them.

Souji instantly recognized the two to be Ananta and Vishnu respectively, he recalled seeing the two while accidently looking at Minato's compendium, which Margaret had mistaking taken, accidentally confusing his compendium to Minato's since they looked so identical.

Another sound of a gun firing was heard, six bullets were fired from Shadow Rise's pole-cannon. However it stopped dead in its tracks once it got near to Minato's Personae. As if he created an invisible barrier to protect them all, only Minato knew that he just used a fusion spell called Infinite, which creates a barrier that blocks every move including almighty. The only downside to using it was that it required two Personae, which sometimes mentally damages him.

Also added the fact that it takes up quite a bit of his Spiritual Points, which could easily tired him out if he decided to use a lot of fusion spells. Only relying on it as a last resort, or if absolutely needed. Like right then.

_**"What?! How can you even be standing! I attacked you with something you were weak to!" **_Shadow Rise complained, wailing her arms about like a five year old.

"It's quite simple actually; I just switched my Persona over, changing my own properties going from strengths to weaknesses. I assumed that explosion was going to exploit our weakness, so I just changed Personae to cover the weakness with strength. I was only strong against that weakness so I still got damaged minorly from the explosion..." Minato quickly explained softly, only then to question himself why he just explained that to an enemy. He shrugged it off, that was now in the past.

The two Personae disappeared, Minato grabbed an emergency Soma from his pockets, - which he decided on keeping one on him since his last journey, just in case if it was needed in a situation like this, - then throwing it into the air, disappearing to create a similar light around the team. It was as if anyone was using a simple Dia spell, only it fully recovered everybody's health and spiritual power.

Once everyone had recovered they managed to get up back onto their feet. Some still moaned from their hash landing from earlier.

_**"Argh... How troublesome...!" **_Shadow Rise screeched in annoyance, it was like they were all back at square one, _**"What can't you just sit down and die already?!" **_

Teddie started to waddle his away in front of the team unconsciously, not aware of what he was doing. "Teddie! What are you doing? Get back!" Yosuke yelled at the bear's sudden odd behaviour.

"M-My body's moving on its own! Wh-Why am I stepping forward!?" Teddie stammered, wondering what he was doing and why. "Wh-Whoaaa! I-I feel like I'm going bear-serk! Grrr! I'll do it!" He continued to spout random lines, "Take a good look at Teddie's last stand!"

A strange yellow aura starting to emit from around Teddie, the team stared at him, unsure of what's going on.

_**"Ugh...! This high level energy reading... Is it coming from that weird thing?!" **_Shadow Rise squeaked, ceasing to stop movement out of confusion.

"Roaaaawr!" Teddie roared before charging straight into the Shadow in front of him, the team tried to call his name, but that didn't stop the bear from blinding the room with a bright flare. The team quickly shielded their eyes from the sudden light that Teddie had emitted.

One the light had died down, they saw Shadow Rise, back in her normal form, laying on the ground almost curled up into a ball. Then there was Teddie, who lay completely flat, thin as paper. The team yelled for his name before running to his aid.

"You idiot... You coulda died..." Kanji sniffed out, worried for the bear like everyone else was.

"Did Me... Did I help...?" Teddie managed to choke out almost finding no strength to neither stand nor talk probably.

"Dude... Of course you did! Man at were you thinking?!" Yosuke yelled at him, Teddie managed to force a smile.

"Neat...! I'm so glad... I didn't want to be alone anymore..."

Minato's eyes widen at that line, just then he had imagined a memory he had from years ago. Where a young girl with red eyes, and her brown hair was tied up into a high ponytail. She was hugging a younger version of Minato, and she had her head rested on his shoulder, tears had escaped her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

_"I... I don't want to be alone! Promise me that big bro will take care after me...!" _Her cries echoed within Minato's mind as the memory ended.

"No one is alone... Because there is always somebody who is looking after you..." He muttered under his breath, Teddie then managed to stand up, grunting as he did. Before completely standing on his two feet, but still remained as two-dimensional as ever.

Only then he just realized how flat he was.

"What in the world?! No... My fine, silky fur... I was so proud of it! Waaah..." Teddie complained, Yosuke let out a small chuckle.

"Looks like he's gonna be just fine... I guess." Yosuke said, before realizing something, "Ah! Almost forgot about Rise!" He then ran over to the platform, where both Shadow Rise and Rise laid. The rest of the team ran over to the platform, only Minato ,Kanji and Yukiko stayed behind near Teddie, making sure he was okay.

"Nn... Where am I...?" Rise softly spoke upon waking up, she looked behind her, at her Shadow, before remembering what had happened. She looked at the members of the Investigation Team before managing to sit herself up, "I'm sorry... It's all my fault."

Souji only shook his head, "No harm done."

"Really...? Thank god..." She softly got up, balancing herself, she walked over to her shadow before extending her hand towards it. "Here, stand up." Her shadow was hesitant to grab her hand, but ending up reached towards it with her own. With all the strength Rise had left, Rise carefully helped her shadow got back onto her two feet.

"I'm sorry. You must've been in a lot of pain up until now." Rise started to talk to her shadow, "You're a part of me, yet I kept refusing to believe that you existed... I was trying to figure out who the real me was." A small smile came onto Rise's face, "But I realize now that I was on the wrong track. There is no 'real' me. It just doesn't exist."

"There's no... Real me...?" Teddie repeated quietly to himself as Rise continued to confess to her Shadow.

"You... Me... Even Risette... They were all born from me. All of them... Are me." Rise finished off, a calm smile spread across her shadows face as she nodded in agreement. The strength of heart required to face oneself has been made manifest, as Shadow Rise disappeared into a blue light, before appearing again, only to be imaged as Rise's newly obtained Persona. Himiko, the shaman queen of Yamataikoku, from Ancient Japan. The Persona disappeared, as a blue tarot card of The Lovers floated down onto Rise's palm. She turned her attention back to the Investigation Team, she was about to walk over to them and thank them, but she found no more strength with her legs and dropped back down onto her knees. Yosuke managed to catch her before she could injure herself.

"Careful now..." Yosuke spoke softly to her, she giggled quietly before turning to see his face.

"I'm all right... Hey you're the one who came to the store, right...?"

Yosuke shot a questionable look at her, before staring at Souji, who nodded, only then remembering, "Oh, yeah. And he came with me along with Kanji..."

Souji then briefly introduced himself along with the others, she nodded, "I thought I recognized you guys..." She managed to bring herself up again once more, before walking carefully over to the bear, she looked at Minato. "...Hey looks like we met again, I guess I can finally thank you for your help back then."

Minato laughed. "Though the circumstances are quite odd, it's nice meeting you again. And like I said back then it was no big deal, I just happened to be at the place at the right time."

Rise turned her attention back to the team, "Thanks, everyone..."

"We'll explain everything later, but for right now-" Chie started before looking back at Teddie in surprise.

"What's wrong, Chie?" Yukiko asked before looking at Teddie, who was shaking about in fear and confusion.

"There's... no real me...?" Teddie repeated over and over, quieter each time he repeated the line said by Rise.

"H-Hey... Teddie?" Kanji walked closer to the bear, but instantly shot back once Rise's voice shouted across the room.

"No, get back!" Everybody shot glares at the girl, as she continued, "Something's coming out of him!"

_**"Real? Me?" **_A new dark, heavy voice echoed across the area, it chuckled, _**"Such foolishness..." **_A strange light appeared behind Teddie, slowly a silhouette appeared, coming out of the ground. As it took form it looked like Teddie. Only twice as big, and its eyes were yellow. The same blue aura that surrounding Rise's Shadow was now surround the taller Teddie.

"What is that thing...!?" Yosuke yelled in shock at the new figure.

Chie gasped, "D-Don't tell me... Is that the other Teddie? Teddie's hidden thoughts!?"

Rise nodded, "I believe so, but it seems like there's more... I felt some powerful presence intervene..."

"Wh-What's going on!?" Teddie cried out before turning around, looking at his shadow, and jumped in surprise, "Wh-Whoaa!"

Shadow Teddie stared down into Teddie as it begun to speak once again._** "The truth is unattainable... It will always be shrouded in fog. Though you reach through the murk and the gloom to grasp something, you have no means to know it is the truth... In which case, why...? What sense is there in yearning for the truth? Close your eyes. Lie to yourself. Live in blissful ignorance... It is a much smarter way to exist."**_

Teddie stared back at his Shadow, but with more confusion than anything, "Wh-What're you talking about? I don't understand a word you're saying! You're just making it sound difficult because I'm not that smart! How rude! Maybe you can't tell, but I'm thinking as hard as I can!"

_**"It is those efforts that I am calling useless... You are hollow. Empty. At your core, you know this... You just cannot accept it. So you seek an alternate form... A denial of your nature. You have no lost memories. If you have forgotten anything, it is this truth."**_

Teddie clapped his hands around his ears, shaking his head from side to side. "Th-That's... That's a lie..." He stepped back in fear.

_**"Shall I spell it out for you? You are but a mere-"**_

"I said shaddup!" Teddie tried to ram his shadow, but was only bounced off far, pushed to the back of the room.

"Teddie!" Yukiko called out his name, looking around the room to see where the bear had landed.

_**"It is the same for you all... You undergo suffering because of your search for the truth... This world is filled with thick, heavy fog... How can you find something when you know no what you search for?"**_

"The truth has to exist." Souji answered the Shadow's inquiry.

_**"Obtaining the truth is simple. All you have to do is believe that it is the truth... Then I will grant you one truth. You will all die here. You sought the truth, only to find death..."**_The aura surrounding the Shadow grew bigger and darker. Indicating that the shadow will form in its true form and fight.

"Dammit... How are we supposed to fight something like this without Teddie...?" Yosuke questioned, they no longer had a support to help them battle.

"It's all right... Get ready, everyone." Rise said, Chie looked at her with worry.

"Hey, don't tell me you're fighting with us! You can't take it!" She shouted at Rise, who shook her head.

"I'm okay, I should be able to take that bear's place. It's my turn to save you all!" A blue light surrounded her, as Rise's Persona had appeared behind her, who placed her hands down in front of Rise, putting a visor in her sight.

"I see... Her Persona is Tactical Oriented" Minato hung his head, "Just like..." He shook his head, "Everyone get into your positions!" He called out to the rest who nodded, running off into their positions as the area shook heavily, starting to reform itself.

Shadow Teddie dug into the floor's surface, moments later another rumble shook the area. A large claw struck upwards as now a bigger version of Shadow Teddie appeared, forming a big hole in the ground. Shadow Teddie's face was more broken off, and his whole body was covered with some rust.

_**"I am a shadow... The true self..."**_ Shadow Teddie screamed, _**"I shall give you the 'truth' you claim to hold so dear... The inescapable fact of your death here!"**_

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Sorry to leave it at a cliff-hanger once again adding Shadow Teddie's fight into one chapter is just a bit too long. So again splitting it into two parts._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	9. Chapter 9

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Nine: Infinity!

* * *

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter of From the Third to the Fourth! I apologize for the lack of updates, I just went on winter school holidays on Friday (21st September), and I've just been slacking off lately. Urgh. So as apology I made this chapter a tad bit longer._

_DeathChaos25: Oh yes, completely forgot that they introduced 3rd-Tier Personae in Persona 4 Golden. Although I doubt anything P4G related will make an appearance since I know next to nothing with P4G. _

_The most likely case is that Messiah will become Minato's Ultimate Persona when the Fool Social Link maxes out between him and Souji. This may mean I have to somehow get Minato to resolve whatever his problem is and Orpheus Telos... Well, I should keep how he appears as a secret. You're just going to wait and see. (The only thing I can say is that he won't be showing up until much, much later on in the story.)_

_I might have to spend like a few days at the drawing board for Messiah though._

_DemonRaily: ...Sonja? *ctrl+f's chapter eight* ...Snrk... Brb going to go publish my new book 'How write and proofread your fan fiction at 3:30 in the morning regarding of all the times you've said to yourself to stop writing in the middle of the night because you will end up making stupid mistakes for stupid reasons. Volume 69'_

_But my god, I don't even know how I managed to write Sonja instead of Souji. First the dog fog, and now Sonja Seta. I'm willing to bet all of my money that Teddie will start to call Souji Sonja in the future and it's going to become his nickname. Just because._  
_  
Ugh, but one day I really should go back and fix up some typos, maybe rephrase some dialogue. Idk. Maybe once I get to Chapter 15 I'll start fixing typos._

_Tsuki Aizawa: Sho-Ai as in shonen-ai, no, not really. Sho-Ai as in shoujo-ai, no, not really. I'm quite terrible at portraying romance relationships so I often try to avoid adding pairing all together, so the fact that it might be mainly on shonen or shoujo-ai, is quite unlikely. _

_I think I mentioned at the ending authors note of Chapter One that some pairings may or not may appear later on. As of right now they aren't really of big importance. But who knows, a pairing might get hinted and I won't even notice since I let like almost everything fly past my eye during proofreading. So I guess the best you will be seeing from me in terms of romance is hinting._

* * *

Meanwhile outside of the TV World, a motorcycle roared before turning completely silent, Mitsuru had just arrived near the Inaba Police Department, she got off her bike and proceeds to take off her helmet, fling her red hair from side to side, making sure that every last flick was at least back in its original state. She was about to walk into the Department, until she hear a familiar, faint sound, the sound of a machine moving. She smirked, knowing that it really was futile to tell the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon to stay put.

Her gaze shifted towards a certain tree, "Aigis, if you are going to follow me around, I recommend that you do it fairly stealthy and not just hide behind a tree." She called out to the tree, a moment later a head popped out from the side; Aigis stared at Mitsuru before walking away from the tree and towards Mitsuru.

"Understood, I will take notes to upgrade my stealth skills on a later date." She replied with her monotonic voice, "However I must apologize for disobeying your orders."

Mitsuru shook her head, "That's completely fine, it was quite pointless of me to give you an order in the first place. You follow your priorities and that still has been to 'be with Arisato and to protect him'. Am I correct?"

Aigis smiled, "Yes that is affirmative." Her head shift towards the Police Department, "What is our reason near a Police Department? According to my database, this is a facility for people to go to if they have done something terrible or if they have something to report."

Mitsuru walked towards the Police Department, with Aigis following behind, "Well, I guess you can say that I arranged a meeting with one of the detectives, we are just going to have a chat about Arisato's whereabouts... Actually now I think about it, could you try to search for him?"

Aigis nodded, "Activating GPS and Scanning simulations." Her eyes tightened up as she looked around, "He's definitely here. However I cannot exactly pinpoint his whereabouts..." A light gasp escaped from her lips, "This... This can't be..."

Mitsuru stopped and looked at her with a curious look, "What is it, Aigis?"

"I'm detecting a similar presence to those of a Shadow... It seems to be coming from a shopping district."

Mitsuru crossed her arms, "That's odd; I thought we destroyed every single last Shadow by preventing the Fall and getting rid of the Dark Hour... Clearly after this meeting we must inspect this as soon as possible."

"Understood, targeting as second priority." Aigis said as her eyes revert back to normal size, as the two walked into the Police Department. Once inside, Mitsuru headed straight towards the front desk, who she instantly told her name and that she was her for a meeting with a detective named Ryotaro Dojima, Aigis put the new name into her database, and mentally wrote that this Ryotaro Dojima person is Male and that his current occupation is a Detective.

The person at the front desk gave Mitsuru an odd look, before picking up a phone, telling the person on the other side that there was someone was here to see him. The person gave her attention back to Mitsuru and told her that he was on his way.

Mitsuru thanked the lady at the front desk before walking away. A few minutes past before the Detective walked into the lobby, he held onto a yellow folder.

"You must be Mitsuru Kirijo." He simply said, his attention turned towards Aigis, "A friend of yours?" He questioned.

Mitsuru nodded and introduced him to her, without letting him know onto the fact that Aigis is an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, "This is Aigis, she'll be accompanying me during my stay in Inaba."

"Right, well follow me and we'll get started." He walked off, Mitsuru and Aigis gave each other a nod before following behind Detective Dojima, into one of the interrogation rooms. "I guess this will have to do for now." He motioned towards two seats near a table, "Please take a seat."

Mitsuru sat on the seat on the left, and Aigis was left to sit on the remaining seat. Detective Dojima sat on the other side. He placed the folder to the side, Mitsuru was curious what was inside but kept her attention straight ahead.

"About Arisato..." Mitsuru started, the detective nodded.

"I'm one hundred percent certain he is here. But could we first talk about what happened in Tatsumi Port Island?"

"Of course, where would you like me to start?"

"Before his disappearance would be a good place to begin. This is just to help me understand your situation here."

Mitsuru crossed her arms, "Right, Arisato has been hospitalized since the fourth of November back in two thousand and nine, ever since he has been in a comatose state... We were then told by the hospital that his body 'disappeared' at the thirty-first of March."

"If I may ask, what was the cause for him to fall into a coma?"

Aigis hanged her head, Mitsuru was willing to do the same but she kept her composure straight. "Late night on the third of November... He was shot in the chest. We rushed him straight to the hospital... He was lucky that it missed any vital areas, but he still suffered from major blood loss."

Detective Dojima nodded his head, "To then be hospitalized and then to suddenly disappear back in March, only then to make an appearance yesterday in Inaba... I can only speculate that this might have been an attempted kidnapping, I wish we, as the police, could somehow make a case from this but we barely have anything to use as evidence."

"I understand, admittedly my concern right now is that he is safe... Any ideas to where he might be as this time?"

"Hm, well he seemed to befriend my nephew and usually he is spending his time at Junes with his friends..." He muttered, he cleared his throat, "Most likely at Junes. Would you like me to make you a map or take you there?"

Mitsuru shook her head, and looked at Aigis, who stared back, nodding, "I don't think that will be necessary. Thank you, I will take my leave." She stood up from her seat, Aigis followed her actions a moment later and did Detective Dojima.

"Before you go Mitsuru…" He pushed the folder towards her into the middle, "Officer Kurosawa had called us in the morning to tell us to give you this when you arrived."

Mitsuru took the folder from the table and looked at it, "Officer Kurosawa? Oh this must be about the other Arisato... Merci."

She thanked the Detective once again before leaving the Police Department. As she held onto the folder only as her curiosity grew to what information it contained. Aigis, once again followed behind the Kirijo as she walked towards her motorcycle.

"Hamuko Arisato." Aigis spoke, gaining Mitsuru's attention, "I've confirmed once that she is a relative to Minato. So why did you request Officer Kurosawa to give you any information he found on her?"

Mitsuru stared into the far distant, "Well... It's just to confirm something that I've been questioning about. The incident that happened twelve years ago at the bridge... Although I doubt anything relating that will be in here though."

"I only saw Minato in the scene at that time. I never saw anyone else."

"That's what I've been questioning. I'm unsure if Arisato thinks that she passed away with his parents, yet my inquiry still goes; 'What she has been doing, and where has she been since that bridge incident to when we met her while fighting The Hanged Man.' ...Hm." Mitsuru paused, staring into the distance. "Looks like Arisato and I have a lot to talk about." She turned to Aigis, "Regardless we must make haste to where you located that presence."

Aigis nodded, she walked over to the GPS sitting on Mitsuru's vehicle and typed in some coordinates, once done Mitsuru put on her helmet and got on board her bike, "Sorry Aigis, this vehicle isn't capable of loading two people. We should split up for now and meet at the destination."

Aigis saluted, "Understood!" and with that she ran off into the distance.

_"Drive four hundred kilometres then turn left." _The GPS spoke loudly, catching Mitsuru off guard, she stared at the GPS, at the top right corner it read; 'Destination; Junes' that alone caught her attention. Minato might be at Junes, yet the presence of the Shadows was also at Junes. Looks like she was right to bring her Evoker as an emergency, she was correct about the shadows eventually making a return in another place.

During when this was happening, back inside TV World, the Investigation Team continued onward to fight Shadow Teddie, they all honestly had no idea how much time had passed since they got here, anyone could argue it has been possibly about x hour(s) had past. As a joke, Yosuke said it's been forever and a half since they got in there. Souji debated that it has taken them infinity hours to defeat Shadow Rise and Pi hours fighting Shadow Teddie, which instantly crowned him winner of the odd debate, only to leave one Yukiko dying from laughter.

Chie placed her hands on her hips demanding the two to stop acting like babies, as she summoned her Persona to deal Skull Crusher to the Shadow, if the Shadow in front of them didn't drain her Bufu skills - as Rise warned her at the beginning of the battle - Chie was willing to abuse Bufula. Alas, Shadow Teddie drains Bufu, and now Chie is limited to using physical and normal attacks.

_**"What...? How can you summon such strength for such a futile endeavour...!?" **_Shadow Teddie growled, before summoning a strange aura on Kanji. Suddenly it combusted, sending Kanji to the ground, making him dizzy, Shadow Teddie took this opportunity and rose his left hand straight into the air.

"Be careful everyone, he's charging up again!" Rise shouting warning the team in advance.

"Hang in there..." Yukiko had summoned her Persona, healing up Kanji with a Diarama, who just shook his dizziness of and stood back up.

"Cheers!" Kanji thanked, only then to summon his own Persona to shock the shadow for knocking him down.

From the back, Minato had switched his Persona over, then summoning the new Persona straight after, Parvati had appeared, making an odd glow beneath each member, which should raise their defence for a bit.

Shadow Teddie remained in his position, which his left claw in the air, a small ball of energy starting to gather more into the bear's hand, becoming slightly larger.

"Be prepared, he's going to attack soon!" Rise shouted, continuing to cheer the team onward.

A small grin spread across on Yosuke's face, he looked over to the rest of the team, Souji being the one who nodded back, they all wasted no time. They had to start guarding to nullify the attack coming shortly.

And guarding is what they did.

Shadow Teddie lifted its claw higher, before swinging it down onto his prey, there was a small explosion, yet it didn't managed to come into contact with anybody. Nihil Hand was successfully blocked.

"Everybody, the effect of Matarukaja is going to wear off soon." Rise told the team in advance.

Just then Chie went running towards the Shadow, sending a boot to its face even regarding of that hole it's laying in, apparently kicks and punches can still be sent at it from a distant.

Yosuke went ahead back into buffing, giving the first group the Sukukaja one by one, before giving the increase of agility to the rest. This current Sukukaja was going towards a certain 'punk'.

Next up, Souji quickly replaced Ares with Kusi Mitama, upon summoning one of the four soul aspects, it sent a miniature whirlwind of Garula right to the beary shadow.

Now angered, the Shadow threw both claws in the air, like it didn't care, foolishly whispering the team into silence, which affected Souji, Yukiko and Chie.

Yukiko grabbed onto her TV World handbag, which was filled with several healing items. She took out two Amrita Sodas and chucked two towards Souji and Chie. As the two grabbed their individual soda, Yukiko grabbed one for her and chugged it down quickly, getting the silence off her. Souji and Chie did the same, and the three was able to summon their Personas once again.

Kanji had summoned Take-Mikazuchi once again, calling it to smack the Shadow with a Fatal End.

Minato switched his Persona over to Lachesis, only to strengthen the team's hit and evasion with a Masukukaja.

Shadow Teddie raised both arms, creating a rather large block of ice near Minato, who had gotten quite injured by the Bufudyne, the Blue Fool only shook the cold off, he had worse Bufudynes by the 'Imperious Queen of Executions' herself. Obviously her Bufudyne was a Bufudyne to remember. If he had equipped Jack Frost that _one _time though...

Chie kicked her Chariot Card, sending Tomoe Gozen towards the large bear, which has used an Assault Dive to deal some damage.

Yosuke followed it up with another miniature whirlwind of Garula with Jiraiya and Souji followed that up with a shocking blast of Zionga.

_**"Why do you still resist...!? Even should you win, naught but suffering awaits!" **_Shadow Teddie roared, he swung his arms again, knocking down Souji with Nullity Guidance. Once again. He knocked down Yukiko with it as well, the two who have fallen have now became dizzy. One more. He ducked down before charging back up with his left claw to the sky, another small energy gathered to that hand.

"Another Ultra Charge... Urgh, someone help Yukiko and Souji!" Rise called out whining about the two who had fallen, Yukiko couldn't do much in her power due to dizziness.

"Damn, just lay down and die already!" Kanji shouted before running to the Shadow, smacking its head in with his 'indestructible' folding chair.

Minato switched Lachesis over with Saki Mitama, healing up the team with a Mediarama.

More energy gathered in the Shadow's hand as it continued waving to and fro waiting for it to completely charge.

Tomoe Gozen was summoned once again by Chie, performing another Assault Dive into the Shadow's thick 'skull'.

Yosuke grabbed a stimulant out of his own TV World backpack, throwing it into the air, only to disappear like a Soma, only to recover Souji and Yukiko from their dizziness.

Upon standing back up, Souji switched his Persona over to Ose, Power Charging up for his next move.

Shadow Teddie remains to keep his claw high, like many times before when ultra charging for a Nihil Hand, the energy became larger. Ready to strike.

"This isn't good... We're not going to have enough time to have everybody blocking it..." Rise warned the team, they all knew with this awkward set up, sometime like this was eventually going to happen. It was quite inevitable, Souji almost cursed at himself for not noticing when something struck in his mind.

"Minato, could you do whatever you did with Shadow Rise once again?" Souji quickly asked.

Minato tilted his head confused, when he remembered, "Oh right, you want me to use the Fusion Spell, Infinity again? I usually don't allow myself to use Fusion Spells that much... But I guess it's the only way isn't it?"

"Fusion Spells? The heck is that?" Kanji jumped in the conversation unwillingly.

"They're basically a skill that requires two Personae. If I happen to have two Personae that can combine their powers with me, I could summon, let's say Vishnu and Ananta, and use their Fusion Spell, Infinity. This is the same spell I used to block Shadow Rise's attack. Infinity, as you can guess allows us to block any type of attack for a limited amount of turns. The only downside to Fusion spells is that they easily drain my Spirit Points and could mentally damage me since it requires summoning two Personae at once." Minato briefly explained.

"Oh so it's like a double edge sword or a gun. It's useful at times but it can also backfire on the user." Chie added.

"Hm, since I'm a Wild Card like you, is it possible for me to use Fusion Spells as well?" Souji questioned.

"I don't know... For as long as I know, I've been the only one with this ability. But it's possible." Minato replied.

"Guess I have to do some experimenting later then." Souji mentally noted in his brain, "Will you be okay, using the Fusion Spell?"

"I should be fine, since it's only the second time, if I go any further than that, _that'll _begoing into the danger zone."

Souji stayed quiet a bit, hesitant to let any of the following scenarios to take place. "I'll leave it up to you, since I don't know how bad Fusion Spells can affect you, but I'll trust your words in either case. For now let's focus back on the fight."

Everybody nodded, and went back to their merry way. Yukiko was requested to heal everybody with a Media, to recover any small wounds in case Minato decides to not use the Fusion Spell, something told the team that he was going to use it regardless.

Kanji boosted up Yukiko's defence, to increase her survival against the possibly upcoming attack.

Now the million dollar question just became; "Fusion Spell; Y/N," All team members, became tense in that moment, from the moment Minato focused to change Persona, to grabbing the Evoker, to when he was raising it up to his temple, and finally, pulling the trigger to summon whatever. The sound of chatting glass was there, but not heard by the team, they were all caught up in this hype moment, even considering how odd their situation is. Minato stumbled, like before, losing balance, as if the Evoker caused recoil between the two. Out came two Personas. The same two from before, Ananta and Vishnu.

The two created an invisible barrier like before, the moment the two Personas disappeared, Minato hissed in pain, leaving him panting for air a bit, suddenly becoming extremely exhausted.

"I'm-I'm okay..." Minato managed to whisper out, unsure if anyone heard it, he started to zone out for a bit, concentrating in attempting to get his breathing rhythm back. He wasn't paying much attention when Shadow Teddie attempted to swing his Nihil Hand at them. The moment the sound of explosions took place, he snapped out of it.

As expected the barrier kept them safe from the attack, he didn't release until now, that the bear has been somewhat moving a bit unusual when it went back to its idle stance. Before it was just staring into everybody's soul, now it was just shaking, and staring at the skies. How long has the bear been in this stance?

"Probably a sign of showing that it's getting weak... We must be close in defeated it then." He simply thought, beginning to space out a bit again. Before he knew it the bear was dissolving into red ash and just disintegrated.

"Great job everybody." Rise cheered from the back, as she her way over to the team. Souji took this time to glance around trying to see if he could spot the flattened bear, looking over to the side of the area, laid said bear. He got up, and made his way slowly to the team as well.

Once he came into view with everybody, Yukiko was the first to ask a question. "Was that part of you, Teddie...?"

"Even Teddie had a hidden side..." Chie added.

Souji mentally face palmed, questioning himself if he should repeat his line of 'No matter who or what you are, chances are, you have a hidden side.' He decided against saying said line, and just left it as it is. He himself wasn't sure if he had a hidden side or a Shadow. Nor was he sure if Minato or his former team members had a Shadow.

He gave his attention back to the matter at hand, Teddie just turned around to face his other self.

"I... I don't know who I am..." Teddie said barely above a whisper, his Shadow - who already retrained his original form - just stood there silent. Teddie continued with his talk.

"I've thought a number of times... That maybe there is no answer... But I'm here... I live here..."

"You're not alone." Souji suddenly said, Teddie turned back around to face the members.

"Then... I don't have to do this all on my own...?"

"Dude, we promised to help you figure it out, did we not?" Yosuke added with a small smile.

Yukiko nodded, "I'm sure we'll find out more about you, as we continue investigating this world."

"Y-You guys...!" Teddie cried, "I'm... I'm one lucky bear! Waaaah..."

A familiar sound was coming from his Shadow, as the aura around him grew stronger. Everybody instantly knew what this meant.

"A Persona..." Yosuke stated the obvious.

Curiously, Teddie took a few steps forward, up to his Shadow, the courage of heart to support one's friends had been made manifest. The Shadow disappeared, before reappearing as it's form as a Persona, Kintoki-Douji, the legendary figure, Kintaro who reached adulthood. Kintoki-Douji's image faded, and a tarot card of The Star fell down slowly onto the bears hands.

Teddie has faced his other self, and obtained the facade used to overcome life's hardships. The bear turned around to the team.

"Is this my Persona?" Teddie asked.

"I can sense strong power from it... It's awesome, Teddie..." Rise managed to answer before reaching her strengths limits and fell to her knees, gaining everybody's attention.

"That's right, your Persona just awakened too! I'm so sorry... You must be worn out." Chie said with concern.

"We should hurry back outside then." Souji added, he went over to Rise to give her his support, to help her walk back. They all made haste to getting back to what they would call their central hub.

"Are you feeling okay Rise? We're almost out." Yukiko asked, the teen idol nodded back.

"I'm all right, but I'm more concerned about Teddie." Rise replied with a bit of a sad tone.

Kanji looked over at Teddie with a bit of worry. "You okay there? We gotta go back for now..."

"I wanna be alone for a while." Teddie simply said, which caused everyone to almost do a double take if they weren't giving the bear their attention.

"H-Hey..." Yosuke started, but was interrupted by the bear.

"My beautiful fur is all rough and coarse and my nose hasn't been working well either." Teddie continued, before jumping down, laying on the ground and started to do sit-ups as fast and hard as he could. "So while I wait for my fur to grow back, I'm going to train hard! Nobody can stop _moi_! Here goes! One! Two!"

"Wh-What's gotten into you?" Yosuke asked, but wasn't really directing the question towards the bear.

"Don't, talk, to me, please!" The bear said slowly getting his point across. "My goal for today will be over nine thousand! Here I go! Ten! Eleven!"

Chie felt a sweat drop down from the side of her face.

"Leave the dude be. Comes a time when a man's gotta stand on his own two feet." Kanji concluded.

Chie shot a questionable look back, "Uh, I don't really think this is one of those times..."

"Well then Chie, Minato and I will take Rise back home." Yukiko announced.

That caught Minato off guard who seemed to be spacing out again - after making a quick visit to the Velvet Room. - "I'm coming along too?" he questioned.

Yukiko almost laughed, "Well, you do need a place to stay while you're here in Inaba, right? This was mainly Souji's idea, but I agreed and managed to find an empty room in the inn and reserved it for you."

Minato shot a surprised look at Souji, then back to Yukiko, then back to Souji, and back to Yukiko. "I can't even begin to express how appreciative I am for your gratitude. I owe you one."

Yukiko broke out laughing, "It's no big deal. It's the best I can do since you're a part of the team."

"But seriously though, thank you."

Yosuke cleared his throat before their conversation went way too off topic. "Anyways, Rise'll need a lot of rest. We can talk after she regains her strength."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they walked towards the TV that'd lead them back into their own world.

"Um, good luck, Teddie!" Chie shouted at the bear, who continued to do sit-ups.

"Just kick back and wait for my wonderful comeback! Peace out!" Teddie replied.

One by one everybody enter the TV after Yosuke send the signal that it was safe. There was one person who decided to lag behind a bit. This person turned their attention back to the bear.

"One more thing, Teddie?" Minato asked, hoping not to anger the bear in the process.

"What is it Minato? Can't you see I'm a busy bear right now? I need every single second for this to count."

"Consider visiting our world once you regain your fur." That sentence alone made the bear stop.

"I can do that?" The bear questioned, Minato nodded back.

"Of course. I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun there."

The bear shot a big smile back, "Thanks Minny, that'll make me work twice as hard, no triple times as hard! Fear not! Teddie will be coming to take a visit!" The bear resumed his work to do many sit-ups, working faster and quicker.

Minato didn't mind the odd nickname the bear just given him, but just like that, the world felt like it came to a halt. He saw a tarot card appear right before him, turning over to reveal The Star. He only just remembered that he didn't start every Social Link he could, he remember missing a few, The Star being one along with Empress and Moon. Every other Social Link he had was either not completed, awaiting to be reformed or maxed.

The only Social Link he remember maxing out was Magician, Hierophant, Temperance, Sun and Hermit.

He heard that familiar voice that would speak to him every time a Social Link was formed, ranked up, or maxed out.

_I am thou... And thou art I..._

_Thou hast established the Star Arcana_

_It shall bring thee even closer towards the truth..._

_Thou shalt have our blessings when creating Personae of the Star Arcana..._

Time resumed when a sudden feeling of guilt stirred inside the boy's mind, "Another Social Link with a teammate..." He muttered quietly to himself, he shook the feeling off for the meantime, "I wish you the best of luck, Teddie." He told the bear, unsure if he heard it. But he decided to leave it at that and left the TV World.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! I really hope that I don't randomly delay chapters again, but then again holidays just make you discard everything and play video games all day every day. I'm also kind of surprised that nobody had picked up on the Persona 4 Comic by Hiimdaisy reference on chapter 8. By the way, this chapter title is a small reference to Marvel Super Heroes. Gotta love 'em 'Infinity' when using a super._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	10. Chapter 10

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Ten: Retelling of the late 2009

* * *

_A/N: Welcome all to another chapter of From the Third to the Fourth! I've decided to finally move replying to reviews with the end author's notes instead of the beginning author notes. Without further ado... Let us strike while the iron is hot!_

* * *

Upon catching up with Chie, Yukiko and Rise after the Investigation Team had split their ways, the moment Minato took a few steps out of the entrance of Junes, he could've sworn that he heard some kind of mechanics moving from the distant.

"Must be Aigis... She's probably here with Mitsuru..." Minato thought, he let out a small sigh before walking up to Yukiko, who was giving Rise her help to walk. "Do you mind if I meet you back at the Amagi Inn? There's something I have to do." He told her.

"Huh? Oh... That's completely fine. I'll meet you back there then." Yukiko replied softly before walking off with Chie and Rise, once the three were out of view, Minato stood still on the pathway, he started to listen closely. That was definitely a certain Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon moving that he heard the sound became closer and closer.

"Over here, Mitsuru!" He heard a familiar voice shout, he was correct, Aigis and Mitsuru were in Inaba. "Minato!" Aigis shouted again, the next thing he heard was running, he turned around to see the two running towards him. They came to a halt when they were at least a few metres away from the boy.

He couldn't help but let a small grin spread across his face, "He-Hey..." He started awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, "Erm... Long-time no see?" A big grin spread across Aigis' face, she threw herself into Minato, giving him a somewhat tight hug.

"Where have you been? I've been so worried..." Aigis whispered, almost bursting into tears, Minato let out a small chuckle, Aigis had changed quite a lot since the last time he saw her, the two separated from their small embrace.

"Sorry to have worried everyone..." He whispered back a bit louder, so the other female could hear it.

"Is there somewhere we can talk, Arisato? I'm sure we both have questions for each other." Mitsuru asked, Minato nodded, before motioning them to follow him into the Junes Store, he led them into the Food Court and sat down in the same table that the Investigation Team would sit at. After Mitsuru and Aigis found their seat and sat down there was a silence that filled the Food Court.

"I think it's best if we start from after the incident at the bridge." Aigis spoke up, catching the other two off guard. Mitsuru nodded slowly.

"Very well. After... _That_... I sent those who were not fighting The Hanged Man to get you to a hospital as quickly as possible. I believe Aigis was one of the few people that went... Those who stayed and fought did just that, I ended up leading the team _temporarily _as well_._The next day we were told by the hospital that you survived from that attack; the bullet was not even close to your heart at all. The only thing you suffered other than the bullet was blood loss and sent you into a coma. About six months later we were told you were starting to recover, they estimated that you'd wake up from your coma early two thousand and eleven. Once March thirty-first came, you just disappeared from the hospital... And I'm sure you know the rest."

"...Temporarily?" Minato repeated, Mitsuru ignored the interruption and continued.

"Back to after you were sent to the hospital, we ended up getting a helping hand from another Persona User on that day... Why she suddenly showed up is a mystery I don't have the answer too. Anyways what I found odd was that she had the same ability as you did; to wield and use multiple Personas. Her name is Hamuko Arisato... A relative of yours?"

Minato's eyes widened, as he stared at Mitsuru, and then looking away to the right. "...Yeah, we're twins... She's the youngest." Just then another minute of silence took place before Minato started to ramble on. "We separated a few weeks before I came into Tatsumi Port Island, I don't remember where she ended up going, but we still contacted each other every now and then. She told me that she was going to transfer into Gekkoukan for some reason at mid-November..." He paused and stiffens, probably figuring out that he said too much. "Sorry... I just started to ramble... Please continue."

Mitsuru stared at the former leader of S.E.E.S, then shook her head, "No need to apologize, moving on. After she helped us take on the Shadow, and I allowed her to take the role as a leader temporarily. After we defeated the Shadow, we celebrated thinking that we had succeeded in our mission. The next day, the Dark Hour was still active. Do you remember the video we saw made by Takeba's father? The one you suspected that it was doctored?"

Minato thought about it for a second.

_"Spill it Arisato, I know something's been bothering you since our vacation." _Mitsuru's voice echoed in his mind, he imagined the scene that took place a day after their vacation.

_"It might just be me and my imagination, but that video... It just felt it has been tampered with."_

_"Is that so? Hmm, I'll be sure to take a closer look at it with Yamagishi."_

"What about it?" Minato asked after the scene quickly played in his head.

"Turns out it had been tampered with, our suspect ended up being Ikutsuki."

"You're joking, right? A guy who's puns are more terrible than Jack Frost's and Pyro Jack's jokes combined was the suspect of messing around with it?"

"Did I stutter?"

"I just can't believe it's not butter!"

Both Mitsuru and Aigis chuckled from that, "I'll be sure to execute you for that." Minato became paranoid and shifted his Persona over to Jack Frost,

She cleared her throat, "Anyway, it turns out that he was one of the scientist that was involved with the experiment. He just playing with us, manipulating us, he wanted to achieve the goal of The Fall and the coming of Nyx. I'll get to those later. Instead of destroying the Shadows that appeared on the Full Moon to get rid of the Dark Hour, it turns out when we did defeat them, it ended up melding them together allowing for the re-emergence of the thirteenth Full Moon Shadow; Death. It was Death's function to summon Nyx and bring upon The Fall."

"Death..." Aigis repeated quietly to herself.

"He also reprogrammed Aigis to sacrifice us, S.E.E.S as offerings to Nyx; she did break out of it and freed us... My father was there at the time as well... And he tried to stop Ikutsuki from achieve his goal - even though his mission to revive Death was already achieved - We lost my father along with taking down Ikutsuki... After all that we wasn't sure what to do but continue to explore Tartarus since we didn't know what The Fall nor what Nyx was during the time."

"Then _he_arrived." Aigis added.

"After a few days, a student showed up by the name of Ryoji Mochizuki, who Aigis deemed as dangerous. At the next Full Moon it was revealed that he was in fact Death."

"More specifically; an anthropomorphic personification of Death." Aigis added before pausing. "And twelve years ago, I had sealed Death inside you after not being capable for destroying him myself... I apologize for that, so when I first met you again two years ago, that's what drove me to stay by your side."

"I don't blame you Aigis; you did what you had to." Minato said, cheering up Aigis a bit, Mitsuru nodded along, agreeing with what he had said.

"Continuing onwards, when Ryoji remember who he truly was; The 'Appraiser' of Nyx, he gave us until New Year's Eve to think about if we wanted to kill him or to let him live and take on Nyx... Of course the last decision was chosen by your sister after we were all ready to face Nyx or not. We were told by him that Nyx would appear at the top of Tartarus on the thirty-first of January to bring upon The Fall. So we trained all over Tartarus to make sure we succeed. The day came and we fought the Avatar of Nyx or if you want to be precise, Ryoji. We succeed but he continued to summon Nyx, and your sister... She headed straight to Nyx, facing it on her on whereas we continued to cheer her on... She then became a seal, to seal away Nyx, even though she was already gone, she stayed until our graduation day, March thirty-first and then passed away from becoming that seal which saved us all... I'm terribly sorry about what happened with Hamuko." Mitsuru concluded ending the retelling of the adventures of S.E.E.S.

Minato smiled, "No need to grief about the loss of my sister, if she knew and was prepared for the worst then she'll go out with a bang and keep smiling no matter what. That's how Hamuko is. "Live with determination!"' That's what she always says to me."

"Arisato..." Mitsuru said, not expecting that as a reaction from him, only to end up smiling herself. "You two are quite alike; always full of odd surprises." That smile faded away as she returned to normal, everyday Mitsuru, "Anyway that's only one part. There's the Abyss of Time that we went through during May, but I'll tell you about it tomorrow. But I believe it's your time to speak. I'm sure the Shadows have formed a new nest around here, I'd like to know what they are up too."

"The presence of those Shadows seems closer as well, and other than the three of us, there's more Persona Users out there." Aigis threw into the conversation.

Minato rubbed his chin, "I'm not the best person to go to for what's going on. But I'll say what I know. Mitsuru, are you familiar with the two murders that accorded here in Inaba?" She nodded, "The Shadows are a connection towards those murders. Apparently those who show up on the Midnight Channel get thrown into a TV, where they are transferred into the Shadows Nest. If the person who got thrown into their nest is still there when the fog appears here in Inaba, that's when the Shadows are stronger. Feeding on the prey. And as you can guess, a group of teenagers who have the abilities to summon Personae have formed, calling themselves the 'Investigation Team.' As of right now there are eight members including myself... That's how much I know of."

"Anything more you know about that Midnight Channel?" Mitsuru asked.

Minato shook his head, "Other than its aired on midnight when it's raining? No... It is best if you ask the leader of the group, he probably knows more than I do. I'll see if I can talk to him arranging some kind of meeting..."

"That'd be nice, while Aigis and I stay here in Inaba, I'd thought it be best to help out as much as we can, and I'd doubt that you are willing to return to Tatsumi Port..."

"Bullseye. I want to find out what happened when I disappeared from the hospital. I have a feeling that the other world has something to do with that."

"Mitsuru, I've decided that I wanted to stay and help Minato." Aigis said out of the blue.

"I knew you'd say that. Feel free to do whatever you want, Aigis." Mitsuru let out a small, sigh but remained to show a soft smile, and then turning her attention back to the blue-haired male. "Alright then, shall we head to an Inn and call it a day?"

Aigis and Minato nodded, as Mitsuru got up from her chair, the other two did the same.

"I'll organize the quickest route. Please follow me." Aigis said before staring into the distance and started to walk off, leading the other two towards the destination.

"Out of curiosity, Arisato, what's the Shadows nest like?" Mitsuru asked as the three continued to walk, heading out of the Store.

"How do I explain? Instead of a massive tower like Tatarus, its open fielded, but most of the areas in there was created from the mind or feelings from a person who was thrown in there. That's what I was told." Minato explained, not really finding a right word to express the TV World. Open fielded was the best he could think have, now that he thought about it, what kind of area did he create? He shrugged it off; he'll find out if they go use that area for training sessions.

Mitsuru nodded, "I see."

"How's everyone else been going?" Minato questioned.

"You mean the members of S.E.E.S? Ah, they've been going great. We all occasionally have reunion meetings back at the dorm, we even just had one yesterday. Well. Believe it or not, Junpei has went onwards to college along with Yukari and Fuuka. Akihiko had decided to join the police force, Ken, Aigis and Koromaru are staying and taking care of the dorm, it's now available to some attending at Gekkoukan, use if I remember correctly... As for me? Well I'm sure it's quite obvious that I'm the current leader of the Kirijo Group." Mitsuru replied with another soft smile.

"Hah, that's nice to hear..." Minato stared up onto the sky as he spoke quietly.

"How about you? What have you been up to other than the stuff involving the Shadows?"

"I've decided to transfer into Yasogami High School, finish off my Third Year and make it up for what I missed in my Second."

"Yasogami? I heard from Gekkoukan that they are planning to make some sort of field trip between the two in early September... Maybe we could try to arrange a reunion party at a different area? Like Escapade?"

"Sounds great, I could meet you up with Aigis and make it a surprise for the rest."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll see what I can do on my end."

"We've arrived at our destination." Aigis announced, as she stopped as the inn came into her view, standing at the beginning of the footpath leading into the Inn. There seems to be two people that were near the entrance, a female with long straight black hair and a male with silver hair that was carrying a dark blue luggage. Happens to be Minato's lucky day since those people was Yukiko and Souji respectively. The two had noticed Minato and waved to him, Minato returned that wave.

"Persona Users..." Aigis mentioned quietly, she kept her eye on that silver haired one. "He bears the power of a Wild Card... Just like you..." Aigis said quietly to Minato.

"Well I don't believe I need to mention his role in the Investigation Team." He replied to her, whispering back.

Minato walked up to the two along with Aigis and Mitsuru.

"Are these friends of yours, Minato?" Yukiko asked him.

"Yeah, just ran into them and had a bit of a catching up talk." Minato answered with a nod. "This is Mitsuru and Aigis." He said motioning his head towards the person when he said their name, "Mitsuru, Aigis, this is Yukiko and Souji." He did the same but extended his arm towards the person when he called their names. They all exchanged short 'Nice to meet you' and one 'Pleasure to make your acquaintance' from Aigis.

"How long with the two of you be staying for?" She turned to the other females next to Minato.

"Two weeks for me." Mitsuru announced.

"Undecided, but I'll be paying the necessary payment each morning until end date." Aigis said in her monotone voice.

Yukiko nodded and headed inside, Aigis and Mitsuru followed behind her and she had told them to do so to get their keys to their room. Leaving Souji and Minato outside.

"I'm guessing the Velvet Express had delivered that to you?" Minato casually asked sarcastically.

"I'm surprised that they do mail. Wonder if they do Airmail?" Souji replied with the same amount of sarcasm.

"Of course. Who the hell do you think they are?"

"The drills that will pierce the heavens?"

"Good answer. Their mottos isn't 'Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb' for a reason you know. But in all seriousness, thanks."

"No problem at all! I'll catch you later then."

Just as Souji was about to leave Minato stopped him.

"I hope you don't mind, but Mitsuru and Aigis wanted to join and help out the Investigation Team."

"I had a feeling they were former members of S.E.E.S. Very well, I'll arrange a meeting tomorrow but I rather wait until Rise and Teddie recovers as well before we do any training. I think we could go explore that area we found you fighting The Reaper at."

"Where did you guys even find me? From my point of view it was so foggy all I could see what the damn Reaper."

"It was outside a rather tall and odd looking tower."

Minato laughed, "Seriously? Out of all the areas to be created it _had_to be Tatarus."

"Tatarus? I'm guessing that was your guy's version of the TV World."

"Spot on, during the Dark Hour that place appeared. Although in normal time it was our school, Gekkoukan. The place is about two hundred and sixty-three floors. It's divided into six different blocks and a Guardian Shadow to defeat on a floor every now and then."

"Ouch, sounds complicated..."

"It's actually not that bad... Anyway you should get going."

"True, we can continue this another time. Maybe have some ramen along the way." Souji finished with a wink.

Time froze. They both knew what time it was for. The blue tarot card of The Fool had appeared for them, Souji's version had the number XXII - representing 22 - on it instead of 0 like last time. He guessed that this was so he didn't have confuse it with his other Fool Social Link.

_I am thou._

_And thou art._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..._

The voice told the both of them before a new voice overall spoke to them.

_The Wild Card Social Link has reached Rank Two!_

As the second voice faded time resumed back to normal for the two. Souji started to head off, leaving Minato with his luggage that the Velvet Express delivered to him. Odd that on his way back that Souji started to think that Minato could of gotten it from the Velvet Room overall, of course then he realized that it would be odd to do it from either Velvet Rooms. Once Souji arrived back home with Nanako, he noticed a certain drunk Dojima and a cabbage loving detective, Adachi.

Nanako seemed to feel awkward in this current situation as Adachi greeted Souji explaining that Dojima was drunk. Even managed to scold Souji off in his current drunken state, saying that Souji need to keep his nose out of police business. Adachi took his leave and Souji was left hugging and apologizing to his younger cousin.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! I just wanted to add that Minato's Social link with Souji is automatic like the normal Fool Social Link along with Judgement and Star. Just to make it easy and so I don't have to play with Souji's arrangement of Social Links since I'll be writing some of those. Time to review stuff!_

_DemonRaily: Talking about Narnia, I never watched any of the movies. I think I only read a novel of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. _

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	11. Chapter 11

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Eleven: One of the many possibilities of a continuum shift.

* * *

**- 7/9/2011 -**

As the rain continued poured through Inaba from night to day, classes had ended for the day for those attending at Yasogami High. Souji found himself staring at the window to the left, while still being seating in his chair.

"I hope Rise and Teddie are recovering alright..." He muttered under his breath, before getting out of his seat slowly, as he pushed the chair neatly back in he thought was he could do for the day, only to remind himself about those two from yesterday and what he told his friends about a meeting. "Right... I almost forgot about that... I should pick up another ema request from the fox on my way there though."

Grabbing his stuff on the way out, Souji walked his way over to the Tatsuhime Shrine, shielding himself with an umbrella as the rain proceeded to poured down. As he stopped, staring at the offertory box before looking up, the fox howled and jumped down behind Souji, carrying an ema's request, looking over at the kitsune, Souji knelt and took the request gently from the fox.

It seems to be hastily scrawled in a man's handwriting  
_I'm scared of them, but I must get used to them. I don't even want to write the word... C A T S._

Souji nodded at the fox, accepting the request, the fox barked before it leaped back on top of the rooftop, Souji watched it jump into the skies before deciding to make a run for it towards the Junes Food Court.

The moment he arrived at the Food Court both of his friends and Minato's friends have already gathered up at a table that was under shelter and started talking about themselves to each other. Mitsuru, Aigis, Minato and Yukiko were seated on one side while the rest was on the other. The only members not here at the moment were the two recovering; Rise and Teddie. Souji took a seat next to Yosuke, and across from him was Minato.

"I see everyone has introduced each other? That's good." Souji started with an opening statement "I don't need to repeat myself why we are all here today. In case you didn't know Mitsuru, Aigis. I'm Souji Seta, the leader of the Investigation Team." He clapped his hands, and rubbed them to keep them warm. "Now then... First off we shall explain our situation..."

A couple of minutes passed of Souji explaining and occasionally his team members jumping in to add their bits of the story, explaining from the two murders that occurred in Inaba, the Midnight Channel, to those who were thrown in and saved and even their recent successful mission of defeating two Shadows with one stone.

In return Mitsuru explained Aigis and introduced her properly as an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, in which Aigis didn't mind and filled the team with her ability to use 'Orgia mode'.

With that they turned into the Q and A part.

"Any questions?" Souji asked as after the situation has been addressed to, the two former S.E.E.S members shook their heads. "Right then that concludes everything..." Souji finalized, "We'd go in and train today but both I rather wait for Rise and Teddy to recover as well before we do anything."

Everybody nodded, agreeing to the fact that they won't be making any trips to the TV World unless they knew both Rise and Teddy was okay. Souji pulled the meeting to an end and everybody started to leave Junes.

Being the last one to leave the area, Souji saw Minato and Aigis engaging in a conversation, out of curiosity, he watched the two, old bad habits stay. As he watched, Aigis looked like she telling the boy something important, there was a soft smile from her. The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy for just a moment, and Souji could've sworn that Minato looked like he was in pain for a moment after he showed a soft _smile_back to her.

Figuring he had enough of eavesdropping on his friends, Souji just walked straight to the Chinese Dinner Aiya, it was raining and there wasn't social links he knew that could be available in this day and time. He ordered the Mega Beef Bowl and took another crack at finishing the endless meat bowl, as he ate, he kept thinking about why Minato seemed to be in pain, he paused eating for a moment.

"If the time ever comes, maybe I could ask him about it... Would that be the right move, however?" He questioned inside his head. He shook it off for now, Souji had already has asked many questioned to the other Wild Card... Just then he started to feel guilty. Almost the same kind of guilt that he felt when he first began his journey.

"Funny, how some people come to change so quickly..." He muttered with a frown, almost recalling his attitude before knowing the TV World as a whole... Upon losing his appetite, he payed for his unfinished meal, unlike the other times he had tried this challenge; he didn't feel to gain anything. Last time he somehow became slightly more understandable, became more careful and started to become more expressive.

That night, he just decided to hit the bay early after watching the weather forecast with Nanako. He felt like he wasn't in the mood to study nor read, even as much as he tried to leave his eyes shut, he wouldn't go dreaming, and for some reason, that made him think about his shadow or rather, his past self.

_**"Another year! Another trip! Hah! What's the point in even trying to become friendly with people? Once the year is over I'll left alone yet again! Abandoned! Now we go to Inaba! Put up that fake friendly face of mine and let's just get the year over and done with! Next we'll be moving to god knows where! But wait! Whaaaaat's this?! Murders? Power of Personas?! Another world?! This year just got more exciting! And I have all of these pawns to use for my Social Links to become strooooonger! This year just takes the cake!" **_A sudden harsh echo was heard in his mind, his own distorted voice... He hastily grabbed the extra pillow near him and squashed it on top of his face, but not hard enough that he would stop breathing.

"Of course that side of me is still inside me... It is a part of me after all..." He huffed, before deciding to sit back up, letting the pillow fall onto the floor. He got up and went to look over to the clock, as it ticked towards midnight. The sound of pouring rain could still be heard from outside, he might as well stay up until the Midnight Channel shows. He sat down on his couch and waited

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Souji counted as the second hand twitched towards the big black number, 12. "Zero..." The second hand touched 12, it was officially Midnight, and it was about time the Midnight Channel should air.

However, the Midnight Channel did not show. It didn't even flicker to noise. The TV just kept showing to be pitch black. Souji tilted his head, it's midnight, it's pouring out, it's dark and he's alone. Normally, it would have shown, but why not today? He walked over to his cell phone, about to ring somebody if they saw nothing as well. Someone was fast enough to call the silver-haired male first.

Looking at the caller I.D, reading Yosuke, Souji opened the cell and didn't place it right next to his ears, he knew what was about to come from the other side.

_"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"_Right on cue, a male screaming was heard from the other side.

"Yosuke. Please tone down your voice. You're going to wake up the neighbours." Souji spoke harshly with an annoyed and bored tone.

"_Sorry... But you saw nothing too right?! The Midnight Channel! It didn't show!" _Yosuke lowered his voice, but he still was yelling.

Souji let out an irritated sigh, he started pitching the bridge of his nose, "We can talk about it tomorrow... For all we know it's probably nothing."

_"Yeah I guess you're right... See you later then." _A dead line was heard after that, Souji closed his phone and chucked it softly to the table. Hitting the sack a second time, it took the Silver Wild Card quite a bit before he slept, in the end he just let his body shut off completely, letting him drift into a dreamless sleep, or maybe he was dreaming? A dream where he would wander around, only to keep finding himself trapped in a void. Such an odd common dream that would be.

**- ?/?/? -**

A man was rushing with a large book in his hands, running to no ends. His running came to a halt when he seemed to have arrived at his destination. He huffed to catch his breath for a moment and looked towards an opened gigantic golden door. One thing that he found out of placed was the condition of said door. He noticed that the smiling grey statue wasn't around, unlike last time.

His eyes trailed towards the floor, and found his answer; the seal has been broken, the pieces were scattered across the floor, covering up an unconscious human underneath it all.

He walked up to that person, before sinking down onto his knees; he knew this was inevitable; the seal she created was only weak and temporary. Of course it wasn't long until the embodiment of darkness took down that seal. He started to remove the pieces of rock that covered up the girl, until he was able to pull her out from there. He checked her condition quickly; she's still alive, and even in her current sleep she's still smiling.

He looked back up at the golden door, as he wondered how long it has been since it has been torn open.

The man showed somewhat a pitiful smile, he wouldn't dare to consider his journey complete, not even half complete. He wanted to retrieve her, without having the seal to break, perhaps replacing it with a stronger soul. Leaving Erebus unable getting across to Nyx.

"The Fall shall rise again. Such an odd turn in fate... Isn't it?" The male heard someone speak behind him; there was no need to look at the person. He already knew who he was.

He'd reply to the Harbinger of Death but there was really no point in doing so. He only picked up the female bridal style and was on his way back to where he serves his duty in the Velvet Room.

During this time, the Velvet Room suffered from a small turbulence. Elizabeth and Margaret looked at each other with concern. They all knew that the Velvet Room was going through another change. First, the elevator, next the limousine, then the current library. That's the changed the current denizens of the Velvet Room remember.

"Looks like our youngest brother has achieved his answer and will be making a return..." Margaret simply said, dropping the deadpan between her and Elizabeth.

As parts of the current Velvet Room disintegrate, new pieces appear in its place, like it was a huge puzzle being taken apart and replaced with one being solved. As the new transformation, the Velvet Room now looked like some huge blue mansion.

Elizabeth was eager to look around the new Velvet Room, as she looked around the room. Igor had his composure ever the same. His grin only became larger.

"How intriguing... Our second Wild Card shall be making a return as well. However..." Igor looked at the table, a single card laid in the middle. The tarot card of The Wheel of Fortune laid on the reverse side. "Our fate, hasn't lead us nor will it lead our guests in the correct path we've expected..."

Margaret gave out a short annoyed hum. Only to prepare for the worse.

**- 7/10/2011 -**

Souji was harshly woken up by the sound of his cell ringing; he dragged himself towards the table, unable to get himself up at the moment. Once he grabbed the cell from the table, he used it as support to get himself up.

It took him to realize there was also loud noise of sirens from the distance, he wondered if something happened. He looked at the caller I.D as he finally was able to stand. It read Chie. He flipped it open and placed it near his right ear.

_"D-Did you hear yet!?" _Chie said calmly, but still panicked, Souji hummed a no, _"They found a dead body just outside the shopping district!" _Souji suddenly felt fully awake with that. _"I don't get it! Do you think it has to do with the fact the Midnight Channel didn't show last night?"_

"That might be the case..." Souji simply put it.

_"Look, we'll all meet at our regular spot. Come over as quickly as you can!"_A deadline was heard, Chie hung up. Shutting the phone off in annoyance, Souji made quick pace towards his cabinet and threw on his casual clothes.

"I'm sure we one hundred percent saved Rise..." Souji told himself, they _did _save Rise. Once Souji was ready, he was sure to make a run for it to Junes. "I never noticed that this week has been so Junes heavy..." He muttered as he ran as fast as he could. But then again, there were times where they had multiple meetings in a row, so it's nothing new to the Silver Fool...

"But what exactly _is _going on?" He asked himself as he sprinting towards the Junes Food Court.

* * *

_A/N; And that's it for this chapter! Dates are now going to be added when necessary just so the both of us can keep track to what day and month it is. Also just as an early warning, updates might start to lag since I'm back at school, but I'll still work on this whenever I have the time. Anybody remember when I replied to a comment saying that the Dark Hour wasn't going to return? I had a second think about it, and as you can tell, that's been changed._

_We will soon be driving off our main road, so buckle up, because this is just the beginning!_

_Time to reply to some reviews!_

_MKTerra: Funny, because that was intentionally suppose to be misconstrued. If I wanted to hide the reference well, I could have done that, but I choose not to. And there are going to be more blatantly obvious references throughout the Social Link, to be fair. The wonders of sarcasm!_

_DemonRaily: Just going to drink a bottle of water while reading reviews. Aaaaand it's gone._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	12. Chapter 12

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Twelve; Teddie's embark to the other side!

* * *

Souji finally arrived at Junes Food Court, sitting down was Yukiko and Kanji, Chie seems to be standing. "Hey over here!" Chie called out, waving her arm in the arm, Souji walked over to the table before taking a seat.

"Everybody else is still on their way?" Souji questioned, noticing the absence of four members.

"Yeah, Yosuke, Mitsuru and Aigis are checking out the scene. Minato's went into the TV World to see if Teddie knows anything about this. They'll all be arriving back here soon." Chie explained, before throwing her arms frustratedly, "Augh, what in the world is going on?!" She sighed in anger.

Just then Yosuke ran into the Food Court along with Mitsuru and Aigis. "Bad... News, it's another murder. Turns out they've found another body hanging upside down from an apartment's rooftop building." Yosuke announced with a serious tone, still catching his breath.

"But... How could that...?" Yukiko started softly, her voice trailed off as she began to ask the five w's of who, what, when where and why.

"But that's not all... Th-The victim this time... Was _King Moron_." Yosuke added with a bitter tone, those who were seated, stood up in shock.

"The police are taking down the body and inspecting it as we speak..." Mitsuru added, giving a deadly glare into the distance.

"King... M-Moron?!" Chie repeated, not believing at all what she just heard.

"King Moron...? Oh, it's that Morooka guy... Isn't he your homeroom teacher?" Kanji questioned absentmindedly, turning to Souji, who nodded.

Chie angrily flopped back down onto her seat, wiping her face with both hands. "But why! What on earth is going on?" Her voice muffled as she continued to stressfully rub her face.

"I'm not too sure either!" Yosuke yelled back, as stressed as she was. "But we talked to a guy there who saw it! It's true... There's no mistake..." He ended, leaving his eyes to trail off to the lower right. He choose the nearest chair and sat down, leaning back, staring at the sky, confused as everyone else is.

"Ain't the killer targeting people who get shown on the TV? We all know that we didn't see King Moron on either the Midnight Channel, or any other programs!" Kanji let out his thoughts, just as irritated as Chie and Yosuke was becoming.

"And here I thought we've finally figured things out... Were they all just a big coincidence?" Chie sighed, rubbing her temples constantly.

"We've made it so far... Now we're just back at root one!" Yosuke complained, throwing his arms in the arm furiously, "Were we in over our heads, trying to catch a culprit even the police couldn't find?!"

"No, it's too early to give up now." Mitsuru said calmly, trying to gain control of the conversation to cool off everybody's frustration, it did certainly gained a few confused glares from the Investigation Team. Mitsuru pulled over two chairs for herself and Aigis. "We need to take a deep breathe, take a moment to relax, and assay the problems."

"Damn straight... We started this thing because the police couldn't tell from their asses from their elbows. We give up now and that shithead's gonna be on the loose forever." Kanji sat back down after letting out an outburst.

"Humph..." Yosuke hummed, sitting up properly, "Big talk coming from someone like you, Kanji." He added with a somewhat cocky smirk, but in a jokingly manner. He cleared his throat, "But Mitsuru's right. We should think about this for a moment... We have the sudden disappearance of the Midnight Channel and another murder... What should we tackle on first, partner?" Yosuke looked over to Souji with a straight face, Souji took the moment to think about it first, rubbing his chin as he sat back down onto his seat, and Yukiko did the same.

"Let's try to hit two birds with one stone, there's something really bother me about the both of them..." Souji started, "Theoretically, we should of saw Mr Morooka on the Midnight Channel, _at least._But because it didn't show last night we technically have no idea if he was shown or not... Let's assume that the killer uses both the media and Midnight Channel to decide on the next victim, since Mr Morooka wasn't shown in either cases, there shouldn't be a motive to kill him... Maybe this was another person's doing?"

Chie's face beamed up, "So what? Is this person an accomplice? But what would his motive would be and why King Moron? Was he just picked at random just to throw the police off?"

Everybody looked at her dumbfounded.

"...I just hit close to golden jackpot again... Didn't I?" She laughed nervously, scratching the side of her neck embarrassedly.

"Thinking about it... That could be the case... But we have no idea if Teddie has sensed anything on the other side since Minato hasn't returned yet with any news..." Yosuke said nonchalantly, crossing his arms, attempting to stay as calm as possible regardless of what he learnt earlier that day.

"From what we know, the previous two victim's cause of death was unidentified, seeing they couldn't find a cause. Assuming that Kinshiro Morooka's cause of death would be the same, is a rather unlikely case as well..." Mitsuru added her thoughts in, gaining nods from Souji.

"That's what has been bothering me as well... The _real _cause of Mr Morooka's death..." Souji hummed a flat note, hanging his head low. Many possibilities and questions came into his mind, but which one was going to help them get closer to the truth? "Maybe we should go and find Teddie and Minato, hopefully that way we can find out if Teddie had sensed anything on his end..." He voiced out subconsciously, slowly trailing off as he stood up from his seat. Followed by the rest standing up one by one, agreeing that they head into the other world.

Coming across into the Television Section, two staff members seem to have engaged in a conversation near the TV that'd take them to the other side.

"Huh? There's staff here?" Chie lowered her eyebrows, questionably starting at the manager's son of Junes.

"That's unusual..." Yosuke quietly said as he walked towards the two employees. "Hey there, has something happened?" He asked the two.

"Ah, Yosuke!" The female employee noted his appearance, sounding delightful that the boy has arrived.

"Great timing, has the manager told you anything about this?" The male employee questioned, making Yosuke question what he meant, he clearly knows that his father hasn't mentioned anything about anything to him lately, and usually if its Junes related, he'd tell Yosuke as soon as possible.

"Well, there's this weird mascot running around our department for quite a while now... Is there some kind of campaign going on today?" The male continued. Yosuke still looked at him, still unsure what the two were talking about.

"Mascot?" Yosuke repeated, still unsure if they heard them correctly.

"He said his name was Teddie... Oh! That reminds me, he seems to be walking around with a boy your age... Has blue hair if I remember correctly..." The female added.

"Male with blue hair? Teddie?" Yosuke repeated, starting to raise his eyebrow at the two, he pushed his index finger on his forehead, thinking insanely if they meant _THE_Teddie he knew. The mention of that name also seemed to have struck a chord in Aigis' brain, shooting her head towards the side. She never noticed the small Shadow presence she's been getting since she sat down in the food court until now.

"A Shadow here...?" She questioned silently.

"Well there are no customers around, so I guess its fine... I better get back to my station." The male said before leaving the scene with the female.

"You can't be serious..." Yosuke's hand trailed towards his right temple, almost attempting to rub away a nagging feeling.

"Come on Teddie! We've been here long enough, we need to get to the Food Court to the others you know!" A familiar voice shouted furiously, echoing across the area, gaining everybody's attention.

"Bu-But... This chair makes me feel like I'm in heaven! You need to give it a try, Minny." Another familiar voice cried, stammering a bit for some odd reason.

"Whoa!" Chie yelled, almost tumbling down, "He's... He's here!"

They were sure they were all seeing the same thing; a bear outfit, sitting on a massage chair, vibrating along with it. In front of him, keeping him company, was the blue-haired Wild Card, Minato.

"Aaaaaaaaahhh... This really hits the spot..." Teddie grinned, enjoying the nice massage the chair was giving him.

"Come on Teddie... We already caught enough unnecessary attention! We have to get going!" Minato shouted again at the bear, sounding harsher just to get the bear off the darn machine already.

The team ran towards the bear and male. Dumbfounded. Was the bear really here? In their world?

"Wh-What the...? I mean... How'd you...?" Yosuke started to ask, the two noticed the presence of the Investigation Team.

"It took you guys long enough! I've been waiting y'know? I had to take Minny's idea of coming into this world!" Teddie cheered with glee, Yosuke deadpanned over to Minato, who sheepishly smiled.

"I thought he get bored all the time over on the other side... So I offered him to take a visit here when he grew his 'fur' back..." Minato explained rubbing the back of his neck, uncomfortably.

"Are-Are you okay on this side?" Yukiko asked, unsure if Teddie could stay in their side for long. He technically has been on the other side even before he first met Souji, Yosuke and Chie.

"How'd you even _leave_your side?" Kanji added a question, eyes widening.

"So this is that bear that helps you on the other side..." Mitsuru eyed the bear from head to toe, somewhat disappointed, but what was she to expect?

Teddie jumped off the chair, before spinning around with excitement, "Duh, I did what you guys do. Go through the exit. It just never occurred to me to do it until Minny suggested it. So I worked triple times as fast to work back my fur, and look where I am today! And today shall be the day Teddie embarks his journey to explore this world!" He cheered on, "Oh and some man and women came to ask my name, and so I told them 'I'm Teddie!' Minny here shouted at me for it though."

Minato groaned, "I told him that we needed to move before we attracted any attention from the staff members... Even after I tried to 'explain' that he came back from a costume party and couldn't really be bothered to get out of his costume … They still got suspicious of this guy."

"Go figures..." Chie sighed as she stared down onto the floor.

A noise of someone clearing their throat was heard, it was Mitsuru. "Enough of that, we are here to ask the bear if he has noticed anything on the other side... So.. Er... Teddie? Have you... _Smelt _any humans in the other world recently?"

Teddie noticed the two newcomers he swore he never seen before. "Oh? Who are these beautiful women? I've never seen such pretty faces since Yuki." His eye shined a winked to the two.

"Ex-Excuse me...?" A small blush appeared on Mitsuru, as her eyes widened at the sudden remark. Aigis just stared back at the bear, sending cold, icy daggers to him. Unfortunately, it had no effect because of the bear's resistance to icy things.

"You're dangerous..." She said coldly, almost wanting to shot the possible Shadow down, Mitsuru stopped her, telling her that the bear is on their side. The bear is still considered dangerous to her. But she felt that the bear wasn't _as_ dangerous as... _Him_. Regardless she still find the bear quite suspicious.

"Ouch, you're words wound me madam!" Teddie let a small laugh, he turned to Souji, "Is it me or has the numbers in our team has been rapidly increasing lately?"

"We can do introductions later, Teddie. Answering her question should be wise." Minato warned, he knew the bear wouldn't receive the normal execution Mitsuru had always give, but he knows that she would go to her back up, alternate. Less ice, more piercing rapiers. The bear _is_ resistant to ice, and she _will _find that out thanks to her Initial Persona passing her support capabilities to her current, Ultimate Persona, Artemisia. He will never understand how that works though. The wonders of Persona...

"Other than you guys visiting previously and Minny's current visit, I've smelt nothing in there. _Nil, naught, zilch, zip, nada, diddly squat-_" Teddie told what he learnt while waiting in the other world, before being interrupted by Chie.

"Alright! We get it, you didn't sense someone being thrown in..." She whined, knowing what the bear fully meant. At least that somehow closes the tides in, as the team took a tiny step forward towards the truth.

"Er... Did something happen on this side?" Teddie asked, feeling a bit worried that he should have sensed something.

"...Maybe we should go back sitting into our regular place to fill you in with what happened. Then I guess we can talk about your newly grown fur..." Souji spoke in a flat tone, not really sure what to go about the appearance of Teddie. With a somewhat uncomfortable, understanding nod they walked back out to the Food Court and sat in their spots.

They then proceeded to tell Teddie about the recent murder and disappearance of the Midnight Channel, along with being introduced to the two 'new hotties' Mitsuru and Aigis. Of course he was given the talk to not turn Aigis' gears in the wrong direction as she called him 'quite possibly dangerous' again, wanting to shoot him, once again. That day Teddie learnt not to mess with the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. He'd like to keep his fur attached.

The bear also came prepared with multiple glasses, as requested by 'Minny' to do so and gave Mitsuru her own pair of specially made oval shaped sunglasses for the other world. Sadly Aigis didn't require a pair since her eyesight was made to surpass the normal human's eyesight.

"That show you guys watch to know who's going to be thrown in is now gone?" Teddie repeated nonchalantly, still using his happy-go-happy tone of his. "And this King Moron guy's dead for some reason you can't tell? Sheesh, what's been going on in this side while I rested in mine? It's like you guys can't even take a break! Hooooow boring." He sang flatly.

Everybody gave Teddie that 'Are you serious right now?' glare besides Aigis, not really wondering what's in that bear's hollow mind. Probably nothing _but_hollowness.

"And there he goes, saying whatever appears in his hollow head." Yosuke sighed, that was Teddie for them. The flirty, wacky, 'scoring' Teddie.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I am not hallow anymore! In fact I've grown a new body along with my new fur! I ain't hollow anymore." Teddie whined, his outfit mouth showing a childish pout.

A small tint of red appeared on Kanji's cheeks trying to brush off the idea to touch the bear's fur. "...C-Can I touch it?" He asked randomly, looking away in embarrassment.

"I guess. Only this one time though! I'm only allowing you since you're kinda a nice guy, unlike Meany-MC-Poopypants here." Teddie smiled, before turning Yosuke to give him an innocent, yet piercing stare. Kanji smiled and petted the bear, feeling his fur was like a dogs. Soft, smooth and addicting to ruffle up.

"Me-... Meany-MC-Poopypants?" Yosuke repeated, snickering, "Can't you at least try to come up with a better insult? You sound like a five year old!"

A small snicker came from Yukiko, admittedly that had to be the _worst_insult she had even heard to date.

"Me-Meany-MC-Poopypants...! Pfft, hahahaha!" Yukiko giggled, having her laughing fit, she almost felt water gather up in her eyes from laughing so hard.

Mitsuru on the other hand tried not to chuckle by biting down onto her lips, hiding it away with her dominant hand, small giggles did pass out, but she tried to cover that up by coughing lightly.

As Yukiko's laughing fit started to die out, Teddie looked 'seriously' at the others, only to look like he was smiling happy. "I'm quite serious about not being hollow anymore though..." He groaned, "Talking about not being hollow is it just me or is it hot in here? Mrph... I need... Air..." He started to complain, wanting to reach for the large zip on the back of his outfit, only to have his hands slapped away by a worried Yosuke.

"No!" He shouted at the bear, "Dude, if the children see your empty insides, they'd freak out!"

Minato stopped daydreaming for a moment, what did he just heard? Something about showing off their empty insides?

Souji started to massage the bridge of his nose, not really liking where this is going. They've already attracted much attention due to the bears or mascots appearance in the Food Court of Junes.

Aigis continued to stare at the bear with caution, thinking that the bear has grown/gained a human form, kind of reminding her of _him_.

Chie jumped towards the bear too, worried about scaring children as well, hollow or not, the bear is in no way shape or form, taking off the head.

"Are you deaf? I said that I'm not hollow anymore! Now lemme out, I'm starting to sweat!" Teddie groaned more, struggling with Yosuke and Chie to get them off him, a few concerns shouts from the two later, the bear managed to push them off, sending them tumbling to the hard brick floor. He reached to the back and quickly as he could, take the zip to the other side, before pushed the head part of his outfit straight off.

The team, along with some bystanders passing by, gasped at the scene, seeing short blonde hair flow, some sweat dropping down on a pale, flushed face. The... Bear gasped for air. Grabbing Minato's drink and finishing it off, chugging it straight down, looking like he was being used to film an ad for that can of TaB.

"Ahhh... Much better!" Teddie smiled with his new face.

People such as Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke and Kanji stared at the new Teddie with their jaws hanging opening. The rest? Well they just stared, blinking occasionally. Unsure of what the hell they just witnessed on the tenth of July.

* * *

_A/N; And that's it for this chapter! Nothing special to say in this author's note, so I'll just reply to reviews._

_SuperNova23: Obviously not, P4Arena has still yet to be released here in Australia. I do have it on preorder though! (I'M WAITING EB GAMES. I'M WAITING.) It's taking forever I swear... Oh! Question for Europe readers; Has P4Arena been released over there yet? I heard it was supposed to be on the shelves since like last month, but since my bro came back from London, saying that he couldn't find it._

_So it's quite obvious that I'm writing from what I know from P3FES (Journey and Answer) and P4 and a bit from the P4 Anime. _

_But to answer your question, I guess Theo would do the same but since I never really knew that's how they made it in P4Arena I just__ used my idea which was that the certain attendant would return to the seal on specific dates during the year after defeating Erebus, but not completely getting rid of it. I also like to think that Erebus likes to store up more power/darkness or what not before taking on the seal again._

_"But pfft- head cannons, they never do me any good."_

_I'd do research for the story in P4Arena, but I would like to be as spoiler free as possible..._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	13. Chapter 13

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Thirteen: Inaba's Grand Prix of H-S-P

* * *

_Post!A/N: Early apologizes for the extremely silliness in this chapter, I felt a bit in a bad mood when I wrote this chapter and as a result I wrote an extremely silly part to try to cheer myself up. It's a tad bit OOC, but it's there. To balance it I made this chapter longer, making it 12 pages with 7k+ words! Out of curiosity, do you people prefer longer or shorter chapters? Let me know! But without further ado..._

_Let us strike while the iron is hot!_

* * *

As the new Teddie opened his sky blue eyes, the members could've sworn that sparkling light was flying off the new bear. He looked to the left, and then to the right, eyeing each and every single one of the members of the Investigation Team, even the former members of S.E.E.S got that innocent smile from the bear.

"Chi? Yuki? Mits? Ai?" He called _sweetly_to each female by a short nickname he randomly decided on, "I'm basically a newborn at the moment and my body is kinda starting to shiver."

"Te-Teddie...? Is that really you?" Chie stammered slowly getting herself up from the ground, almost falling back down again, for some reason she just couldn't stop looking at the bear.

Mitsuru hurriedly stood up, "Ah... Er... If you deem yourself to be a 'newborn' at the moment, then I request that you do _not_remove the lower half until we at least get you some clothes..." She said hastily, tugging at the bear to take him straight to the clothes section.

"Newborn?!" Yukiko nearly squeaked her cheeks reddened up, "Let's get going then, come on Chie, Aigis!" She rushed over to the bear. Aigis tilted her head before nodding and following along, she wasn't sure why she tagged along, considering she has almost no experience with shopping for clothes, but she might as well somehow help with the advice Yukari gave her once.

Once the females were gone the males glared at each other in silence, tension rising up awkwardly.

"Did he really just grow a human body in there?" Yosuke questioned, not really asking anyone in particular.

Minato looked at his can TaB that had been dropped on its side by the bear, before grabbing it and shaking it, the bear had literally drank every single last drop, "... I didn't even drink third-fourths of it..." He mumbled. He'll make sure that the bear pays for that one day...

"What _is_ Teddie at this point? At first I thought he was a Shadow or something, but now he has a Persona and... _THAT_." Yosuke almost screamed, unsure what to think at this point.

"Half human, half shadow?" Souji shrugged, unsure himself, he turned to Kanji, "Hey, what did the fur feel like?" He randomly asked, begging for the topic to be changed.

"Huh? Oh, just felt like some dog's fur, y'know? It's really soft, I can tell you that." Kanji gave an awkward smiled, uncertain why the leader was asking such thing.

"...Really? When I first popped his head off, it felt rough as hell, like it was somehow crafted with sandpaper. Huh, so the bear did grow new fur..." Yosuke commented, feeling a bit less awkward with the randomly new topic, he turned to Minato, "Oh yeah, that reminds me, you and Rise seem to have meet each other before I was wo-... Jeez, it's sounds like I'm preying on you for information..."

"Oh no it's fine." Minato gave Yosuke a reassured smile, "While we wait for the girls to come back with Teddie, we might as well get to know each other... But truth to be told, I never really knew that Rise was also known as 'Risette' for the longest time."  
Yosuke shifted positions, becoming somewhat more interested in this new topic.

"There's a place in Tatsumi Port Island called Club Escapade, sometimes, singers, bands, idols and what not go there to perform gigs or live concerts but usually that was rare, and the place often lacked entertainment... Often I offered to play a few songs whenever I had the time and literally started becoming somewhat known for playing there. I think it was around September when Rise came to do one of her live concerts... I think it was somewhat after when I played my own gig... Don't really remember... "

"September fifth. It was also the day she was short on a guitar player, think they called quits or something..." Yosuke corrected, Minato eyed him with a raised eyebrow, didn't they fought The Hermit that night as well?

"Risette closet fan." Souji simply explained, smirking away. Minato nodded, almost saying 'Oohhh' but nothing came out.

"He-Hey! I resent that!" Yosuke playfully shouted, laughing.

"We all have our secret admirers, hell even I have one, and Souji 'n Minato here probably has one too." Kanji admitted with a small grin.

"It's true!" Minato chuckled, "But yeah, you're right, one of Rise's band members called quits, it _was_all over the news, rather sudden too, she didn't get the time to find someone else, so she asked me to fill in the empty spot. I always found that rather odd that she came to me and not called for a back up, but what do I know about how idols work? Regardless I helped out and took the role of the guitar player for only that night. Near the end of her gig, the place ran into a power outbreak for a short bit, but the equipment was still out temporarily."

"She even tweeted about it, almost cancelling the rest, but moments after she tweeted that someone helped the equipment and performed an encore as an apology." Yosuke nodded, feeling smart that he shamelessly knows these things.

"That was thanks to Fuuka, a member of S.E.E.S. She was there along with some other members; they often would come to the place and listen to my gigs... But I asked her to take a look at the equipment if anything was wrong with it, turns out we kind of overheated the equipment and had to borrow from Power Records... In the end she introduced herself as Risette and Rise, and trade information with me, wanting to work with me another time..." He ended chuckling.

"Huh, so that's why you name felt so familiar when I saw it on her wikia. But dude! That's so cool!" Yosuke almost freaked out and started to act like a fan girl. "It's like you don't even look like a person who'd play musical instruments and stuff!"

"... Really?" Minato questioned feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Shall we spin the bottle for who goes next?" Souji asked grabbing Minato's empty can of TaB, placing it in the middle. "The girls seem to be taking a rather long time; we probably have more time for more stories. If it stops on anybody with the opened side besides Minato goes next."

The boys nodded, feeling rather comfortable with this rather odd yet fun conversation they were having. Souji spun the can around, after a few laps of three-sixty degree turns, the can stopped, opened side pointing towards Yosuke.

"Seriously?!" He yelled, before laughing, "Well, every since this whole Investigation Team started, I have to say the drama crime shows has started to interest me a lot. I don't know _why_, but Criminal Minds _haass_ to be my favourite one so far. It gets you in the right mood and has tension building all over the place. Sometimes I like to race against some of the shows that leave the criminal unidentified near the end and try to figure out who it was before the character could figure it out. And before you ask Souji, yes, I read Detective Loveline for morbid curiosity _and _Ishamelessly admit that I enjoyed every single volume of it."

Souji snickered, ended up having a somewhat annoyed Yosuke to punch his shoulder lightly. Souji would've commented on Yosuke's 'secret confession' but apparently snickering is just enough to tick the brunette off.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Souji..." Kanji stared Souji down, "Best out of 3. Hammer-Scissors-Paper. Are you _MAN_enough to take me on?!"

Souji sharply turned to Kanji, glaring back with the same stare, "Oh it's _so_on."

"Who's going to come out on top?!" Yosuke announced, mimicking an announcer by using the can as the pretend mic, deepening his voice to represent the stereotypical announcer.

"And in this corner standing in how many metres of I do not know! The man who transferred into Inaba and currently leads the Investigation Team... SOUJIII SETAA!" Minato announced along with Yosuke, immediately adjusting his seat around to the brunette. The two pretended to clap and cheer as an audience, as Souji cracked his knuckles, rolling up his short sleeves for no reason whatsoever, as he readied into a position.

"And in the other corner weighing in how many pounds of I still do not know! The man who beats up on bike gangs for disturbing his elder mother and has no shame for making dolls... KANJJIII TATSSSUMIIIII!" Minato yelled for the second time, him and Yosuke did another round of acting as the makeshift audience, as Kanji started to prepare himself by rolling his shoulders.

"Heaven or hell!" Yosuke yelled, as the two got into the most appropriate hammer-scissors-paper pose ever, ready to throw down, "Let's rock!"

"HAMMER!" Souji and Kanji started to yell the three magic words.

"And our contestants have gone off! Exciting day today in Inaba, right Minato?" Yosuke asked, pushing the 'mic' towards Minato.

"SCISSORS!"

"Oh yeah, partly cloudy today, wasn't it? I wonder what the outcomes are going to be! Who will throw what?! GOD the possibilities are endless!" Minato threw his arms into the air, almost taking the 'mic' and throwing it away.

"For those watching at home; Please don't try it at home or Junes, we're not fake unlike wrestling."

Minato crossed his arms, pouting "Oi. It's still quite entertaining despite that fact."

Yosuke laughed, "True, true."

"PAPER!" Souji and Kanji yelled out the last word, throwing down their card.

Minato and Yosuke stared at the players chosen weapon... Two papers...

"WE HAVE TWO PAPERS!" Minato yelled, immediately throwing his hands on his head, clutching it tight.

"IT'S A TIIEEEE?! GOD YOU GUYS ARE TERRIBLE!" Yosuke shouted, leaving the 'announcer's' seat.

"Ohh! A game! Teddie wants to join!" A new voice came into the Food Court, all the boys paused in that they were doing, as Teddie ran towards them, wearing a white t-shirt with red buttons, wearing an oversized red jacket with a hoddie, he pants was both red and white, Teddie also seemed to be wearing navy blue sneakers.

It was almost like he was wearing a human version of his outfit... Yosuke could've sworn that they never sold stuff like that in the store, but who knows? They might have just recently stocked in with those, coincidentally.

"So what are you guys playing? Teddie wants to join! Teddie wants to join!" Teddie cried happily, as the boys were still frozen in place; Minato still in a pained expression from Souji and Kanji throwing down their papers as Yosuke frustratedly left the area because of the tie.

"Sorry we took longer than anticipated..." Mitsuru apologized walking into the area along with the other females. "What were you four screaming about? We could hear you from inside the store?" She questioned, crossing her arms.

She didn't get any replies from the frozen in place male teenagers.

"I think it was something about hammer scissors paper..." Chie told Mitsuru, as she walked up to the frozen Yosuke and tapped his shoulder, "Hellooo? Anyone home?"

And with just that, the boys just resumed what they were doing.

"I CAN'T believe it ladies and gentlemen! For the first time in Inaba's Grand Prix of Hammer-Scissors-Paper, we have a tie!" Yosuke yelled at both of the contestants pretended to be angry for a moment, considering it was at zero-zero. Minato faked a weep and sobbed into his hands.

"Inaba's Grand Prix of Hammer-Scissors-Paper?" Aigis questioned, taking Yosuke's seat.

"I...! I can't believe I just witnessed this with my own two eyes!" Minato's voice muffled through his hands that were covering his face. Aigis found that you could support a crying person by patting their back, regardless of not knowing he was just playing around she started to pat his back.

Souji snickered, "God, you guys are terrible at being announcers! I couldn't even keep a start face." He realized the presence of the females and Teddie. "Oh... Um... Hey guys?" He sheepishly waved at them.

Yukiko had another laughing fit, "So that's what the fuss was about?! Pff- Pwah! Ahahah!"

Minato returned to his normal composer. "Were we _that _loud with our own WWE with hammer scissors paper?"

Chie nodded as she placed her hands on her hips, "Duh! Look at all the people you attracted."

The boys looked around; they literally gained a flock of people that were watching.

"It's over already?" One bystander said, disappointed.

"Such a shame, it was so interesting to watch." Another one cried.

More cries were heard as each bystander walked away, at least they filmed it to put on YouTube later on that night. The girls sighed in relief.

"Aw... Teddie wanted to compete in the Inaba's Grand Prix of hammer scissors paper..." Teddie cried, almost wanting to cry.

"Maybe another time Teddie, maybe another time." Souji gave the bear a reassuring smile, Teddie smiled back.

"Yay! I'll look forward to it okay, Souji?" Teddie reached for something in his red jacket, "Oh and I almost forgot about this!" He grabbed pink glasses out from the pocket, showing it to the team, "I was hoping to give these to Rise, but I don't know where she lives so I was hoping you guys will lead me there. I'm sure that Rise will probably back us up from now on! And I will fight alongside you with everything I've got! I'm not the cute Teddie you saw anymore! Witness the new legend of Teddie!"

"Wow, a new legend..." Yukiko gasped, acting surprised, as if she didn't heard that one the moment he got his new clothing.

Upon Teddie joining the group as a frontline fighter, everything around Souji felt tensed, as the world seemed to stop for a moment. He saw the Fool Card, the one for the Investigation Team Social Link appear in front of him, as the mysterious voice echoed in his head once again.

_I am thou._

_And thou art._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..._

_The Investigation Team Social has reached Rank Five!_

The two voices faded away as time resumed for him as a sudden drop in gravity just occurred in his body, unsure what was causing that odd feeling, Souji just shook it off.

"Anyways, let's go visit Rise!" Teddie yelled as he suddenly tugged on Souji's arm, "You know the way right? Come on! Come on! I don't have forever you know!" Souji laughed as he told everybody to follow him to the Marukyu Tofu shop.

During the way, they stopped for a moment and took the time to buy Topsicles, even Aigis got her own yellow, lemon flavoured one!

"So this is an icy treat to cool down your systems? Do you think it would do the same for myself?" Aigis asked Minato, trying to enjoy her Topsicle.

"Uh..." Minato wasn't sure how Aigis' systems worked, so he turned to Mitsuru, "What you think Mitsuru?" The red-haired lady only nodded being preoccupied with finishing off her own Topsicle, Aigis knew that single nod would translate to; _'Of course, (with a detailed explanation of how it would probably cool down her limiters as well here)'_.

"How did you guys get the clothes for Teddie anyway? They look like as if Kanji made his outfit into actual clothing for a fashion contest.." Yosuke asked Chie as he took one last bite from his Topsicle, waving the stick around for entertainment. Kanji turned his head sharply around, thought he heard his name for a moment there.

"Well actually at first, Yukiko and I almost picked rather expensive clothing there, until Mitsuru noticed the price tag, so we went hunting for cheaper clothing! We ran into a few clothing that somewhat looked like his bear outfit, so we choose those! It was on sale too." Chie explained, rather happy they didn't buy the more expensive clothing that almost made Teddie look like some formal waiter.

The conversations the group had went back and forth as they finished off their Topsicle, some wanting seconds, or if you're Kanji; A couple of dozens, but ended up sharing with Teddie.. As the group came closer to Marukyu Tofu, they saw a blue haired person wearing a hat coming out from the store, more specifically, Naoto Shirogane, as Kanji and _himself _told them.

Kanji instantly looked away, not really wanted to make eye contact with the _boy_.

"Isn't that Naoto?" Yukiko asked no one, one hundred percent sure that it was Naoto this time. Unlike the last time where they thought Minato was Naoto.

"Huh? What's he doing here?" Yosuke questioned, seeing the _boy _walk out of the tofu store.

"Who's he?" Teddie asked, but immediately got silenced by Yosuke.

"Hmm? Kirijo Group?" Naoto muttered, upon seeing Mitsuru Kirijo, Mitsuru shot a glare at the _boy_ wondering if she heard _him _correctly. "M-Minato Arisato...?!" Naoto's suddenly stammered, changing pitch, everybody stared at Minato.

"You two know each other?" Souji asked, looking over at Naoto and Minato, they did look similar, hell they even thought Minato _was _Naoto when they saw him fighting The Reaper.

"We're related.. Erm... He's my cousin..." Naoto told Souji, attempting to hide any lisping that almost came out from _his _lips.

"Second-cousin." Minato corrected, holding up one finger for effect.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Naoto yelled, rather furiously, using a more feminine tone, _he_ cleared _his_throat, "Apologizes... I believe I haven't told you anything, other than my name so I'll give a full introduction now. My name is Naoto Shirogane, I'm investigating the multiple murders that occurred here. Mind if I ask you a couple of questions relating to the latest victim; Kinshiro Morooka?"

Everybody gave their attention towards the detective.

"Go for it." Souji nodded.

"Kinshiro Morooka... I believe he was a teacher at the school you all attend to, correct?" Naoto first started off.

Souji nodded, "Yes, if you want to get specific, he's a philosophy teacher and homeroom teacher of 2-1. Anything about that?"

"Well you see, the public is focused on the fact that he is associated with the second victim's school... But in truth it's irrelevant. What intrigues me is the inconsistency." Naoto paused, "This Morooka... Has never appeared on television. What do you make of that?"

"...How are we suppose to know?" Yosuke answered rather calmly, thinking it was best not to tell the detective what they assumed in their earlier conversation.

"Well, we'll leave it at that I guess." Naoto started to walk away before stopping midway, "For my part, I'd like to solve this case as quickly as possible. I'll be keeping an eye on you all." _He _then turned to Minato, "As for you... I wish to talk to you in private right now." Minato nodded. "Until we meet again." Naoto ended, walking off with the other blue-haired male leaving the team one member off.

Once the two were out of distance, Chie immediately gasped, she felt like her heart stopped throughout the whole thing, it was rather lucky that she didn't drop and faint on the spot and Yosuke let go of Teddie, quite thankful that the bear was silent throughout that.

"Who is that guy...?" Yosuke questioned.

"He said his name was Naoto stupid." Teddie answered, smiling away.

"Not like that! I mean he..." Yosuke started to explain but was interrupted by Chie.

"It felt like he completely saw through us... He even knew about the whole TV thing." Chie pant, wiping off sweat from her forehead. Their attention snapped towards the sound of footsteps, it was only Rise.

"Oh... Hi." She greeted them rather quietly, she wasn't sure of the three new faces, but she was sure that she'd be introduced to them soon.

"Rise! Are you okay now?" Yukiko asked, wondering if the girl should be up and about. It's only been about one or two days of recovery after all, Rise nodded.

"Yeah, even if it was a small rest, I feel very refreshed. Er, do you guys have a moment? There's something I want to tell you. Follow me, my grandma's taking care of the shop." She requested, still in a rather quiet tone.

"Of course lead the way." Souji nodded, as Rise smiled, as she walked them to the Tatsuhime Shrine that was on the other side, during the walk Rise was introduced to the new Teddie along with Mitsuru and Aigis and somewhat engaged with a friendly conversation with Aigis and Mitsuru.

Shortly after, the team asked questions related to the kidnapped, once Rise stopped in front of the offertory box, she turned around and nodded at the team.

"Yeah, I remember being at my house..." She shook her head, "When I came to, though, I was already in the other world."

Chie felt her whole body being slumped downwards, "Still no real information on the killer..." She sighed.

"We crossed paths with an individual named Naoto Shirogane, has he visited your shop?" Aigis questioned, unsure what lead her to ask the question, but she felt it was needed.

"Yeah, several times actually. He asked me a lot about the incident, I didn't tell him anything about the other world, I doubt he'd believe, it'd just be a waste of time." Rise said rather gloomily.

Mitsuru gave a nod, "It's probably best to keep the other world away from others to prevent any casualties."

"But he's asked me about you guys too, minus Teddie, Mitsuru and Aigis, which was rather odd, so I just made stuff up. Like; 'They found me unconscious at the roof of Junes'." Rise told them.

"Well, to be fair it's close enough to the truth..." Yosuke let out an awkward chuckle.

She looked around the group, looking like she had something to say, Chie caught in on it.

"What's wrong?" She asked Rise calmly.

"I-I really appreciate what you did for me..." Rise started to confess before jumping around in excitement, "Thank you soooo much! I love you guys!"

"Huh? Aww you don't have to thank us..." Chie smiled, rather embarrassed.

"Yay! I love you too Rise!" Teddie jumped towards Rise, and hugged her.

"Aw, Teddie!" She happily cried as she hugged the human bear back, "By the way, you look so adorable in that outfit!"

"Score one for Teddie!" He cheered.

"Dude... She's so cute..." Yosuke almost had another fan girl moment there, "Man, it's finally hitting me that you're the real deal. You really are Risette!" He almost squeaked and tried not to show his fan girl.

"You might as well come out of that closet soon." Souji sang rather flatly to Yosuke, earning him a death glare from him.

Rise laughed, "Well, I know I sounded gloomy and all from stress, so... I thought you might not like me that way. Do I sound weird? Oh, but then again, I guess it sound more natural this way to the public. Sorry... I've practically lost touch with what the real me was like."

"No need to apologize, just go with whatever comes naturally or what feels comfortable for you." Souji told Rise.

"Everybody has multiple sides to them. You don't have to force yourself to decide just on one." Yukiko added.

"Yeah what they are saying! All Rise has to do is be Rise! Just like how Teddie is being himself!" Teddie roared, still somewhat cuddling with Rise.

"Thanks" Rise chuckled, "I'm glad you're the first people I got to know here."

"I almost forgot! I have a present for you!" Teddie stepped back before showing off the pink glasses. "Ta-da! Your own pair of specially made pink glasses for the other side! Or as I like to call them, Teddie Glasses! It's one hundred percent fog free."

"Would you be struggling without my help, Souji?" Rise suddenly asked, somewhat shocking the team. "I can help you in that world right? With my power... So wouldn't it be better if I joined the team?" She questioned.

Souji nodded, briefly telling her the actual effects of the glasses.

"Huh, so that's why I recall see you all wear glasses over there." Rise recalled, "Thank! Now I'm part of the team too!"

Rise Kujikawa joined the party, and with that Souji earned another time freeze.

_I am thou._

_And thou art ._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..._

_The Investigation Team Social has reached Rank Six!_

With another odd gravity drop sensation, he shrugged it off again, he wasn't expecting two rank ups in one day, but if it happened, Souji didn't really mind.

Meanwhile, Naoto had took Minato to the Police Department and wanted to have a one on one chat with _his _second-cousin in one of the interrogation rooms.

"You know, I'm surprised they didn't question your voice changing. Why are you even so concerned about your gender anyway?" Minato questioned rather arrogantly towards the other _male_. "What's so bad about being a _female _detective? Carmen Sandiego was a rather kick ass detective you know."

"_That _was fictional, Minato. This is _reality._" Naoto hissed back, _her_ tone going back to the more _feminine _side.

"Are you sure? Because if I was awake during the Dark Hour to find out that I had the potential to summon a Persona but couldn't awake to it at the time, I wouldn't really believe that I'm living in a real world you know."

Naoto slammed her hands on the table. "Could you _stop_changing the topic about the Dark Hour when I was in Port Island and cooperate with me for just a minute? Let me ask one more time; where were you during March to July?"

"Naoto. You're the one not cooperating with me. I've told you once, I'll say it again; _I have no fucking clue where I was and I am just as confused as you were. _All I know is that I've _somehow_appeared here in Inaba like three days ago!"

"You're not telling the truth Minato. Do you not trust me? I'm no sucker towards the impossible, but I am at least suspicious and aware that there might be supernatural things happening like with the Apathy Syndrome case two years ago. _You've _trusted me by telling me your _true_purpose in S.E.E.S, so why can't you trust me with your four month gap of disappearing?"

Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose, Naoto was right, "I shouldn't really let the past events get to me..." Minato thought in his head, "It's been really messing with my head lately..."

"Sorry..." He apologized to Naoto, who was somewhat confused, "It's just, ever since I got here, I felt like my heads been all over the place. I haven't been able to keep my head straight _at _all."

Naoto sighed, half of it in relief, half of it in frustration, she sat down on the empty seat across from the other blue haired person. "I understand, but there's no need to be sorry, in fact I should be apologizing too for being so... Selfish lately... Could we start fresh for a moment?"

"Sure."

"Alright then. I'll rephrase my question; do you remember where you were during March to July?"

Minato crossed his arms, he really didn't know himself, "I'm not too certain, but it felt like a blur to me... Could I start from the incident two years ago? That might help me explain what I know a bit better."

"Of course, any information you have, I'll take for granted."

"Alright. I'm trusting you with everything that's about to spit out from my lips, so before I start..."

Naoto had interrupted Minato mid sentence, "I swear under an oath that anything that you've said to me, will not be pressed onward to a single person nor Shadow nor soul."

Minato nodded, "Good, then I have permission to stop that thing from recording our conversation?" Reaching towards the voice recorder, Naoto gave him a nod, before he turned the device off, stopping the current recording first.

Minato cracked his knuckles, before resting them on top of the desk, "Now that's out of the way, let me tell you a tale, as I go I'll explain what it is, and if you have any questions, save it for later. That's okay with you right?"

Naoto nodded again, understandingly.

Minato forced a smile to form on his lips, "Good, good... Now I'm going to tell you what I witnesses, it may seem out of the ordinary but it is the truth... After I was shot that day, I grew tired, feeling my consciousness fade away to a new place, at first I finally thought I was going to move on, join my parents up there, and start watching after Hamuko, but, that never happened. Instead I woke up in a room... No a _place _called the Velvet Room. A place that exists dream and reality, mind and matter... Only the residents and guests such as myself could go to. You know how I have the power to wield and use many Personas?"

"You called it the power of a Wild Card..." Naoto nodded, recalling what Minato told her two years ago.

"Correct, The Velvet Room... _That's_ where I go to _fuse _Personae. Yes there are times where during my ventures through Tartarus, I feel a new Persona taking a liking to my soul and side along me but that's the point, The Velvet Room is another place, the people there, Igor, Elizabeth, Theodore and Margaret are all residents in the Velvet Room. Their roles were to help the guests who have a destined journey. From what I know I'm the third person to be a guest in the Velvet Room, who were the two before me? I do not know. All I knew was that I was the first to awake to the Wild Card ability." Minato paused, grabbing onto a plastic cup, growing rather thirsty before continuing onward.

"Anyways, when I awoke in the Velvet Room, I was told that my journey was over, yet I still had a role to play in a different journey. When I came back into reality I was in a different place overall, a place surrounded by this yellow fog. I had to face The Reaper, and I feel tired after being victorious. And shortly after I woke up here in Inaba."

Naoto fiddled with her fingers as Minato explained to her about what he knew, not really sure what to make of it. "I see... It's rather hard to comprehend, I'll be honest, but I appreciate your honesty... This was a rather odd family bonding time wasn't it?"

"It happens." Minato shrugged, feeling a bit more lighter.

"... I also wanted to apologize again that my grandfather couldn't take care of you and Hamuko and left you going from family to family."

"Again, it happens." Minato shrugged again.

Naoto smiled, "You know, compared to two years ago, you've changed a lot, and I seriously mean it. At first you were so anti social, but now... You're somewhat more outgoing..."

"Really? I never noticed, guess it just came naturally, huh..." Minato forced another smile while looking away to the right.

"It doesn't take much to realize you were just inspired from Hamuko." Naoto smiled. Minato shot a glare towards the younger blue haired female.

"Was it that obvious?"

"...I guess spotting things like that is just natural for me... If anything's on your mind I'm here to help, okay?"

"...Am I that obvious?"

"You'd be surprise that your friends haven't noticed it yet, it's _quite_obvious."

Minato became quiet, thinking about it for a moment, there was something that bothered him, but that involved the Social Link he gained with Aigis.

_I am thou... And thou art I..._

_Thou hast established the Aeon Arcana..._

_It shall bring thee even closer towards the pained path that is unexplored..._

_Thou shalt have our blessings when creating Personae of the Aeon Arcana..._

He recalled hearing the new voice from yesterday...

_"I... failed in my mission two years ago... But I will make another attempt to protect you once again... I want to be besides you once again." _

He recalled what Aigis told him from yesterday. He also recalled that guilty feeling once more. That feeling of _using people_ to become _stronger_... He shrugged, Naoto already knew a lot about his true experiences at Tatsumi Port Island, he already told her about the Velvet Room, might as well add the Social Links into the dish.

"There is one thing that's bothered me a lot lately..." Minato started, gaining Naoto's attention. But before he could continue, all the lights in the room, powered off. Making the room pitch black.

**- ?/?/?-**

"A power outage?" Naoto questioned, tried to reach for her phone in her pockets, when she got it out and opened it up, it was off, finding that odd, she tried to turn it on. It was out of batteries. "I could've sworn I'd charge this thing!" She hissed angrily. A few moments later every turned on back on, even Naoto's phone. "That's odd..." She commented, checking the time on said phone, it read; 12:00AM, 16th of July 2011... Naoto lowered her eyebrow, since when did she put her clock five days forward?

She stared at Minato who had gone unusually quiet through the whole thing. It was known that he would be calm through the odd situations, but he would've have at least made a comment about it afterwards. Naoto's gazed into his eyes, there was something... Off about it. She thought she had saw his grey eyes flicker into a yellow colour.

"Minato? Are you okay?" She questioned, somewhat worried.

_**"One thing has been bothering me lately? Hah! What a joke! If anything, everything I've been through has been such a bother!" **__Minato _spat out, his voicing gaining a villainous shrieking echo, standing up in a hurry, making the chair screech as it was pushed back, Naoto was shocked with Minato's sudden... Mischievous-like behaviour.

"I... Minato...? What's with you...?" She questioned, backing away.

_**"Out of all the people to clean up the mess that the scientists left... Out of all the people...! It was a group of teenagers! A group of people who had this power to summon Personas! I never wanted the power in the first place anyway. And out of allll the people to cherish the power of the Wild Card? I was chosen! Why me, huh?! I NEVER WANTED THIS POWER DAMNIT! I WAS FORCED TO USE MY FRIENDS AS AN EXCUSE TO POWER UP MY PERSONAS, DAMNIT! I didn't want to be involved with that mess!" **_The boy cried as he backed up, nearing a television, possibly big enough for him to go through.

"M-Minato please calm down!" She called out to Minato, but the blue haired male just had blue aura grew around him immensely.

_**"I didn't want this! I didn't want this at all, damnit! The world... The world... It would've been better off it was destroyed by Nyx!" **__Minato_ screamed, bumping into the television, he spun around and looked at the TV, a devilish smile appeared on his lips, starting to giggle. _**"And youuu. You've caused trouble too! I think I'll start off with demolishing that world first." **_He sang childishly, before jumping straight inside it, heading off to the other world.

Naoto stared at the TV, since when that was there? She didn't remember that being in there when she first brought Minato in. Suddenly felt at panic, the detective trembled and shook violently. What was she going to do now? Minato's disappeared into the TV and all that he left behind was the gun he used to summon his Personas.

"...Maybe I should ask that group I ran into earlier, they know more than I do... They can help..." Naoto whispered, feeling uneasy, she took another look at the time on her phone. This time it read; 3:14PM, 29th of July 2011... She gave it another odd though about it, what's up with the time skip? Shrugging it off, she made quick pace towards Junes taking Minato's Evoker with her, often enough that Souji person would usually be in Junes but she was lucky enough to find him outside of the Tatsuhime Shrine.

"Excuse me! Do you have a moment?" She called out to him, Souji took notice of the _male_detective and looked at her with a weird look.

"Oh, it's you, what do you want?" Souji coldly said to her, "Did you want to tell us that our 'little game is over' again?" He almost spat at her. Naoto felt shocked.

"W-What? 'Your little game is over'...?" She repeated, eyes tightening up again, not bothering to use her fake voice. "I... said that...? I don't even think that I..."

"Are you playing dumb right now? Because I really doubt a smart detective like you could forget what's been happening in the past eighteen days." He questioned, still having that pissed off, asshole attitude.

"...So it's actually the twenty ninth...?" She mumbled to herself.

"Look if you're just here to waste my time, you should run along and go back to helping out with the case." Souji walked off, purposely bumping into her. Naoto figured enough was enough.

"I see how it is... If that's how you want to play it, then I'll have to find my cousin myself, regardless of my current incapability to summon a Persona!" Naoto told him, in her fake voice, keeping calm without showing anger. As she expected she gained a reaction from it. "By the way, your acting skills need work." She added, before running off.

"Wait, Naoto stop!" She didn't stop, she continued running back towards the Police Department, leaving Souji behind.

"Shit, what've I done?!" Souji cringed suddenly realizing what he just did. He knew the detective knew about what they figured out, and apparently Naoto knows about Personas as well. How much did the _guy _knew?! "Fuck! I had the chance to ask about Minato and I blew it right off!" He throwing down his bag onto the ground, feeling rather pissed about himself now. He _knew_something was up.

_"Your 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least tell you that." _He recalled Naoto telling the team all the way back at the eleventh of July. The same day Minato was reported missing once again as he was said to never return back to the Amagi Inn on the tenth. And he thought that Naoto would know since _he_was the last person to see him, so why did the Naoto told them that their game was over at Junes?

Souji walked over to his bag and grabbed his phone, and called Yosuke.

"Yosuke! Get the rest, this is an emergency meeting. We need to gather up and talk. It's relating to Minato and Naoto." He instantly told Yosuke the moment he picked up.

_"On it."_Yosuke hanged up, leaving a dead line for Souji, closing the phone he made a run for it towards the Food Court for Junes.

"I really pray that Naoto isn't doing what I think he's about to do..." Souji thought as he kept running, really praying that the detective didn't went to the other world.

During that time, Naoto had arrived at the same room she was in with Minato. The TV was still there, as she ran towards it, before jumping in, she tried pushing her hand through. It worked.

"Here goes nothing..." She told herself before working her way into the TV, before feeling like falling for eternally the moment she got her whole body inside, soon enough she hit the bottom as she landed on her back, feeling like a truck has hit her seeing how the fall almost winded her.

Taking a bit to recover from that fall, Naoto found herself in a somewhat foggy area, in front of her was Tartarus, as she squinted her eyes to focus in, she saw Minato standing in front of it before running in. It took a moment for Naoto, but she ended up following, chasing after her cousin.

* * *

_A/N; And that's it for this chapter! During editing this chapter on ff, I notice that sometimes italic words like to combine with the next non-italic word, I also went back to reread the past chapters and notice that problem even though in the unedited version it's fine, seriously ff that's starting to piss me off/burn my bread! _

_Anyways, I have debated if Naoto and Minato were going to be related, or not, originally Hamuko wasn't going to be a part of this story, leaving Naoto and Minato as long lost siblings, but I thought about it when I added Hamuko. At first the two was changed to be cousins, but then I thought second cousins would be more plausible. _

_Shadow Minato was also another debate, if he was going to make an appearance or not. Originally the idea was that he appears when the Investigation Team talks about who the real culprit was behind the whole dog fog and the Midnight Channel._

_I think Izanami would set up the illusion for Souji where he would have the day he spends time with his friends to go mad (like in the Anime) And while one Wild Card was occupied she would go up to Minato, revealing her true form, and proceed with playing with Minato's mind, to force his Shadow out and then take him into the TV World to face the Investigation Team._

_Of course that ending up being scrapping for being somewhat confusing as shit, and just had Shadow Minato to replace Shadow Mitsuo._

_So basically this has turned into a very AU-heavy, fic (I actually wasn't planning to go out of the course, but that's changed...) so I might have to go add that into the summary that needs to be changed anyway. Time to review!_

_13TheAce: Deja vu is everywhere! Thanks, I could never really settle for a humour-centric or serious-centric area for this story, so I wanted to try using both, glad it's working out so far._

_Spear-of-the-doomed: Huh, I never noticed that. For some reason I feel like writing an AU!Fic where the two are related, might consider doing that when I'm finished with this one._

_SuperNova23: Oh okay, that's fine! Quite interesting that she takes Erebus to the moon. Sadly I do not own a PS3... I'm considering getting one once I have to money to purchase it though! And it's funny because I own the Xbox360 and the Wii (But they were given to me as gifts from my bro)_

_If anyone wants to add me on Xbox360, my gamertag is Bearzerken_

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	14. Chapter 14

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Fourteen: Tartarus?

* * *

**- 7/11/2011 -**

During lunchtime that day, Souji received a voicemail from Yukiko, who was absent at the time along with Minato. He played the recording.

_"Hello, it's Yukiko. Sorry I couldn't come to school today; I already explained it to the school, so they already know. Um, we need to meet with the group at Junes after school. I'll explain everything there."_

And after school that's what they did, they met Yukiko there. Even then they were still short on three members

"So what happened, Yukiko?" Chie asked straight away when everybody had sat down.

"There were a few detectives that came to the Inn this morning... Apparently they told me that Minato and Naoto possibly has gone missing, you know how Naoto took Minato to talk in private? Turns out Naoto took him to the Police Department and used on of the interrogation rooms to talk in. But when they checked the room this morning, everything has been scattered around, trashed. Like someone had broken into the room... Apparently the only thing that was untouched was a TV." Yukiko explained, earning gasps from the team.

"You don't think that...?" Yosuke started, becoming more worried, everyone started to realized what this could mean, before they could continue Aigis and Mitsuru walked in.

"Any clues?" Yukiko asked them, standing up from her spot.

"We didn't pick up anything..." Mitsuru replied sadly, this was the second time the blue haired male had gone missing, once they find him, she'd be sure to give him a proper execution, _for real_ this time. Aigis looked like she was in pain, she had already _promised _to protect him, but has she already failed in her mission once again?

"Minato... Where are you...?" Aigis questioned softly to herself, looking all over her radar's for the boy, no such luck. She tried Naoto, and it was the same, she couldn't pick them up no matter up, but it didn't stop her to keep trying, she tried again, and again. Still nothing.

"We should go and check in the other side, if we are right in our assumptions, they could be in there!" Souji announced, shooting up from his own seat.

_**"What you're striving for... It's impossible." **_They heard a voice as a familiar face walked into the Food Court.

"Naoto?!" Chie questioned.

"Where have you been?! Everyone in the Police Department has been worried about you!" Mitsuru yelled at the detective, oh if only she could summon her Persona right now, she was in the right mood to go executing.

_**"Your 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least tell you that." **_Naoto walked away from them.

"Do you think that this is a game to us?" Aigis questioned, stopping detective in its tracks, "Out of all the people to think that... I didn't think you would be that type of person to say that..."

Naoto didn't reply to the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, and just walked off...

"What's up with him?!" Yosuke commented angrily.

"...Don't let it get to you Yosuke; we still have to go into the other side to check for Minato... Let's get going." Souji told them, hissing, feeling pissed himself.

They all went to the TV world, as Rise summoned Himiko, to search around for Minato. It didn't take her that long, before she started talking.

"He's definitely here... But it's like he's not here at the same time... It's hard to explain." Rise told them, still trying to see if she can put the pin on Minato's whereabouts. "I also feel that Naoto's in here too... But I can't get to him either..."

"Naoto's in here too? But didn't we...?" Yukiko questioned, something was up, more questions were adding to the stack of mysteries by the minute.

Mitsuru walked towards Rise, "Let me help, while my Persona isn't as support oriented like yours, I should at least give a helping hand." She summoned her Persona via Evoker; Artemisia appeared behind Mitsuru, before it opened up a teal computer like screen. Showing a map of the area to the other Persona and Rise.

"Wow, this surge of energy... I could feel it from your Persona, Mitsuru... It's so powerful...!" Rise commented shockingly with the power she was feeling from the other Persona. The two searched harder, looking for a way to find either Minato or Naoto. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't find anything. Not even one tiny bit that would close them in towards the destination.

The two gave up, as their Personas disappeared.

"It's no use... It's like the two aren't in here are all, but I can sense them here! I just can't-" Rise started to worry a bit, but was calmed down by an interrupting Mitsuru.

"It's okay Kujikawa, we can try again tomorrow."

And that's what they ended up doing for the next days, occasionally exploring and trained as much as they hated to go back into previous places. They also decided to explore the place they first found Minato, much to their belief, he wasn't there. They explored a few floors of the TV World's Tartarus each time.

**- 7/15/2011 -**

Souji was returning from part time work that night, leveling up the Devil Social Link while he was at it, he wasn't aware how late he finished that night, as he had make another sprint for it back to home, he looked at the time on his phone as he ran, reading in white text it said; 11:55PM.

How did he overwork and got out at that time? He had no clue, he didn't even care that he got payed extra for working a bit longer than usual, he stopped and stared at the sky, he didn't notice it was a full moon that night. Suddenly, everything felt tense around him, as his phone turned off by itself. Looking around, even the street lights turned off, so did some house lights that remained to be turned on at the time.

"Didn't I charge the phone all day last night?" He questioned, staring at his turned off phone, and he barely even used the darn thing, so why did it run out of power?

As he walked back to his house, feeling paranoid, he noticed a lot of coffins and pools of blood as he walked, staring back at the sky, it had a green colour to it, and the moon glowed an unusual yellow. The hell was going on?

He thought about it.

_'__No at the Dark Hour... The hidden 25th hour that only those who had the 'potential' to summon a Persona would witness.'_

...Was this the Dark Hour Minato talked about? Souji shook that thought off, it's just probably his imagination as he continued to walk back home, only to rest up for the next few days, making visits to the TV World again and again to keep trying to search for the two that had gone missing.

**- ?/?/? -**

She was woken from an odd sensation, she found herself staring at a blue ceiling, spreading a huge smile on her lips as she pushed herself upwards, looking around the blue room. _**"Hmm, has my useless seal finally given up? Oh thank god! Finally!" **_She cheered nonchalantly. She needed to get out of the Velvet Room and fast, not really caring about the new look.

She came across the area with more blue coloured doors, in truth; she really loved the colour blue. _**"Even though he's my twin, why are we almost opposites of each other?" **_She questioned, already knowing the answer, _**"Oh right. I had to receive mother's redness while Minato got father's blueness. So unfair!" **_She huffed, crossed her arms and puffing her cheeks.

She looked at the doors; some was covered with a white sheet, while some didn't have it. Thank god the doors were labelled. Her attention shot towards one door. Labelled "?; Hollowed Tartarus", she reached towards it, but her hand jerked away when someone called for her.

"Mistress Hamuko. If you're planning to go back into the real world, I'd recommend not taking that door." A male warned, his voice rather calm, but sounded angry.

Hamuko felt blue aura emit around her body as she continued to smirk, _**"Oh? But who said that I wanted to go back to that world?" **_She giggled, turning to face the male resident of the Velvet Room. In a flash, she felt two Personas wanting to be summoned, not having her equipment to summon the two, she tried to call from within. And in a flash, she summoned Helel and Satan, they came to her side, though there was something different about the two, she couldn't really put her finger on it... Doesn't matter; bombarded the Velvet Room with an Armageddon.

It was rather destructive, but it didn't kill the attendant. She didn't care, as she returned to going through that door she wanted to go through.

Slamming it immediately, she thought she saw her brother go into the only door into Monad Depths. This Tartarus was different to the one she knew, it looked more destructive. And instead of the staircase leading into the Thebel Block, the only thing that stood in its place _was_that door to Monad Depths. But there was something else that caught her eye.

Naoto.

_**"Oh hey look who it is! It's Nao! I'm going to go after big bro for you okay? So will you just wait here and die for me? Thanks!" **_She sang to her cousin, calling forth a Shadow in front of Naoto, taking form of a Knight, before Hamuko ran off into Monad Depths, leaving Naoto to face a Shadow.

Naoto didn't have time to react, as the Shadow attacked her with the sword, leaving a nasty wound to open up on Naoto's stomach. Feeling blood rush out, Naoto became rather panicked as adrenaline pumped into her veins not feeling the pain and grabbed Minato's Evoker, not aware it wasn't the pistol she searched for.

She tried pointing it towards the Shadow, but instead it pointed towards a floating blue card.

_'What are you waiting for? It's about time to awaken to your potential, don't you think?' _She heard a voice call out, imagining a young boy dressed in striped clothing, put his fingers against his temple, mimicking of putting a gun to the boys head. Naoto breathed, as she smiled before a known word passed through her lips, turning the Evoker towards her, before pressing onto her forehead.

"Per... Son... A..." She pulled the trigger, the blue card shattered into pieces, as glass formed and circled around her, she felt a presence appear behind her, but she didn't turn to look.

_"I am thou and thou art I... From the sea of thy souls I come forth. I am Sukuna-Hikona, a deity of medicine." _A new voice called, before the figure rocketed towards the Shadow, slashing at it with his own sword.

Meanwhile in Monad Depths, Hamuko managed to catch up with her twin at the last floor, the tenth one, she was attacked shortly after by his axe, but she reacted in time and pulls her naginata from nowhere to block it. She wasn't going to question it, she prefers to have her head on attached on her body.

_**"You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you, since I know everything you're going to do..." **_Minato started to whisper wickedly to Hamuko, _**"Strange isn't it?" **_He asked, still in a whisper, as a vicious grin appeared on his face.

Hamuko growled at that, but showed a vicious grin herself, _**"Naturally! But if you're going to burn the world to the ground I might as well help! So why don't we put aside our differences and burn it together?" **_She snarled, rather wanting to burn the world herself too. _**"Because if you think about it I was involved with the clean up duty too, you know."**_

_**"You were the one to agree on helping them out. Why didn't you just let Nyx do its job?"**_

_**"Forced. Just like you." **_Minato putted his weapon down from that, trusting his sister for now

_**"Oh? You too?"**_

_**"Because of stupid fate, someone had to become the Seal and take a guess who happened to be that person! Me! I wasn't even supposed to become the Seal! I wasn't strong enough, the only 'Social Links' I'd formed was Fool, Judgement and Death. Yet that wasn't enough! But in the end, I'm kinda glad my Seal was weak, I was hoping the world to be covered with the Dark Hour regardless of our pathetic attempt at getting it away. Grah! It was such a pain to do clean up duty!"**_

_**"I'm surprised our goals are similar. Why don't we call truce then?"**_

_**"Truce."**_  
**  
**The two shook hands.

_**"What shall we destroy first then?" **_Minato asked, smiling away with his sister.

_**"Let's start from here, and work our way back!" **_Hamuko jumped, as the two called upon Helel and Satan, as the two worked together to abuse the hell out of Armageddon.

**- 7/29/2011 -**

Back outside in the real world, Souji had arrived at Junes, apparently everyone else had arrived there first.

"It's about Naoto! I think I might of...!" Souji attempting to explain, panting for air, "I just ran into Naoto today! He..."

"You need to stay calm, take a deep breath and start from the beginning." Aigis comforted, still wearing a pained expression.

"Right." Souji took a deep breath, "Naoto... He... When I talked to him, he didn't seem to remember anything from the past two weeks. Not even when he told us about our 'game' being over... And he... He knows about Personas as well!"

That got the team standing up from their seats.

"What? He does?!" Yosuke shouted, shocked like everyone else is.

"Naoto Shirogane..." Aigis mumbled the name, "I felt like I heard that name before now I think about it..."

Mitsuru caught on, "Wasn't she the one who figured out our real purpose behind S.E.E.S because she was awake during the Dark Hour...?" She questioned the robot back.

"Wait... She?" Yukiko questioned, Naoto was a _he_... Wasn't _he_?

"Now I remember why she looked so familiar... Shirogane... She would often come visit our dorm to visit Arisato... Yes I remember her now..." Mitsuru looked at the team, "But yes, Naoto Shirogane is a _she_. Why she faked genders, I have no idea... But she is aware of what Shadows and Personae... And I'm sure she's also aware that she's capable of wielding a Persona, she just hasn't awakened it yet..."

"I also think I might of provoked her to go looking for Minato since she told me 'If that's how you want to play it, then I'll have to find my cousin myself, regardless of my current incapability to summon a Persona!' Like she was aware of the TV World as well..." Souji sighed, "We _have _to go into the TV World today. We might be able to search for them probably..."

They agreed and headed off into the TV World, this time hoping that they were successful.

Rise and Mitsuru summoned their Personas and went to work.

"It's glad to know that you'll be staying with us a bit longer, Mitsuru." Rise talked to her with a soft smile.

"Of course, I am part of the team too, right? I thought I should stay for a bit longer, help out with the investigation... Plus it's nice to take a break from work once in awhile..." Mitsuru smiled back, somewhat becoming closer friends to the idol. "I think I've started to pick up on the two... You?"

They both looked at the teal screen Artemisia created, three dots pulsed around the same area.

"Hmm... Himiko's telling me that's where the two are... The third one however... She doesn't know who it belongs to. Feels like an area similar to Tartarus... I think I've got it now!"

The two Personas disappeared.

"Follow us!" Rise yelled at the others, leading the team towards their destination.

Upon reaching at the area, they stopped and stared at the tower in front of them, it was Tartarus, alright, but unlike the Tartarus they all saw, it was shorter, only consisting of one block. The other blocks were broken off, set off into the sides. Like it had been torn apart.

"This is it..." Rise commented as she eyed the tower up and down, suddenly an earthquake occurred in the TV World, shaking the whole area violently. The entrance to the destroyed Tartarus started to release smoke, as two figures we sent out.

Upon sliding out of the entrance to avoid the Shadow, Naoto quickly grabbed for the Evoker, spinning it around until she brought it closer to her forehead.

"Let's go!" She yelled before pulling the trigger, summoning her Persona, only to strike the Shadow with another Tempest Slash. After summoning her Persona, she cringed, her wound from earlier hasn't been attended at, still bleeding, and making her drop onto her knees, "Urgh... Can't go for much longer with this wound..."

"Naoto! Hang in there!" Souji yelled running forward to take care of the Shadow, "Yukiko! Get her wound healed!" He commanded, summoning his Persona to distract the Shadow with its Zionga.

"Got it!" Yukiko ran over to Naoto and helped her up, "Are you okay, Naoto?" She asked the fallen detective, as she took her towards Rise, away from the battle about to commence as everyone else went into their battle positions to take care of the Shadow.

"It's you guys... But why...?" She questioned in a weak voice.

"Please don't talk Naoto, you'll strain yourself like that..." Yukiko had her to sit down, as Yukiko summoned her Persona to heal up Naoto's wounds, "That should do for now, but once we get back outside, you might want to treat your wounds properly."

Naoto nodded understanding, as she felt her energy flow back into her. She stood up, feeling refreshed from the healing spell.

"Um, Naoto, I want you to have this, it will help you see with all the fog around." Naoto turned to Rise, who extended her arms out, holding navy blue glasses towards her. Naoto took them.

"I see... Thank you..." She putted the glasses on, noticing the huge difference.

"Great job you guys!" Rise cheered suddenly, congratulating the team's success, that was faster than she expected.

The team came closer to Rise and Naoto, almost coming into a large huddle.

"How are you feeling Naoto?" Yukiko asked, somewhat curious to why Naoto wasn't _that_ exhausted from summoning her Persona.

"Huh? I'm fine... Thank you for your concern..." Naoto replied somewhat confused with the question she had received, but there was something in mind that she wanted to ask, "I hope if it isn't a hassle, but please allow me to join your effort."

"Of course." Souji nodded and gave her a smile, "After all you were already a part of the group the moment you received the glasses from Rise."

"Hey! Hey! Doesn't Teddie get to have some recognition from making those?!" Teddie yelled in his bear suit, rather annoyed at Souji.

"I see, so these are also proof of being part of the team?" She chuckled, "I'll do my best... Er... I believe you haven't introduced yourselves to me.."

"How rude of me...!" Souji almost slapped himself, as he briefly introduced Naoto to everybody. "Now that's out of the way, we should hurry and venture on." The team ran into the building leaving Naoto with Mitsuru and Aigis for a moment.

"So you've finally awoken to your Persona? Très bon." Mitsuru congratulated the female detective. "I'll be sure to make another Evoker for you if you prefer summoning with it, but make sure you return that back to it's owner."

"I appreciate it... I feel like I can help out now, instead of standing at the sidelines..." Naoto smiled, "Aigis doesn't look too well… I'm guessing she hasn't been able to take it easy with Minato disappearing again..." She gazed at the robot standing near the entrance, still with a pained and worried look.

"It's rather unfortunate that something like that could affect her so badly... Do you think she's gained some affection towards him?" Mitsuru frowned, looking over to Aigis as well.

"She _has _gained affection towards him." Naoto corrected, "But I'm sure she'll recover once we get Minato back... Come on let's go catch up with the rest." She finished running towards Aigis, Mitsuru watched for a moment before heading off into the building with the other two.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Feel a bit disappointed with this chapter, but hey what can you do? Not all chapters can meet your expectations. Next chapter we get more Shadow busting action! Time to reply to some reviews!_

_DeathChaos25: Sadly no Shadow Naoto yet! But she will appear later on, I wanted to do something with Shadow Naoto in this chapter, and originally Naoto was going to fight her after somewhat agreeing with what her Shadow had to say but it goes bearzerk anyways. Obviously; it got the scrap stamp because I had no idea what I was doing with Shadow Naoto. _

_And it's funny because I have two 20+ pages for how Shadow Minato and Shadow Hamuko were going to fight/say/act/etc in my FT3TT4 Google Drive folder._

_Thanks for the input! I think I'll go with switching from long to short occasionally since there are times where I just want to end the chapter, and then there are those times where there needs to be more._

_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and see you guys next chapter!_


	15. Chapter 15

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Fifteen: Reluctance.

* * *

_Post!A/N: Battle theme for the Shadow Arisato Twins: /watch?v=FPgTCL18K3I (Wiping All Out x Mass Destruction)_  
_God it's glorious I can't stop listening to it-_ _But without further ado..._

_Let us strike while the iron is hot!_

* * *

Everybody spread around inside the lobby of the destroyed Tartarus, curious with the looks of the odd tower. Souji stood near the entrance with Rise and Mitsuru, figuring out a team position.

"We should go with what we normally do; Split into two groups..." Souji suggested to the other two.

"I'll be taking the lead for the second group that focuses on supporting and attacking, I assume?" Mitsuru added, gaining a nod from Souji.

"That would be great." The two walked towards the rest who nervously waiting to start exploring what area the door held behind it.

"We'll be splitting up into two groups." Souji announced to the rest, gaining their attention, "Chie, Kanji, Naoto and I will be in the first group, the attacking group."

"I'll be leading the rest in the support and healing group, please use whatever you can to gain the advantage. If you're open to attack, please do so." Mitsuru announced afterwards.

Everybody nodded, agreeing with the positions, as they were about to proceed into the door, Rise interrupted.

"Wait! Get away from the door! Two Shadows are coming our way!" She shouted, feeling the two shadows coming closer.

Souji, being the closest to the door, shot away from it as fast as he could, the door was crushed down by a battle axe, as smoke aired out from the door being crushed. A figure ran out, attempting to hit Souji with the axe. Fast reflexes and Rise's warning got him away from the axe by barely an inch. The person swung the axe again, missing again.

The smoke disappeared, revealing Minato and a girl with brown hair, walking in on them, wielding a naginata. The two did have something in common; Glowing golden eyes, the creepy blue atmosphere that circled around them and a red armband the both wore on their left arm, that said S.E.E.S but is crossed out by a black x.

"What the..? Don't tell me those are...!" Yosuke started to shout, seeing the two instant shouted a few words in his mind; Person name)'s hidden side.

_**"Looky, looky! We have a whole room filled with Persona Users! I think we've hit the triple seven don't you think, big brother? ...Oh right we don't have the rest of S.E.E.S, but who cares about those losers?" **_The female Shadow giggled, spinning around in a circle,_** "We even have a full house of Wild Cards! There's you... There's that guy..."**_ She pointed to Souji, _**"There's me..." **_She paused for a moment, pressing her index on her chin, seeming to think a bit, _**"Huh, I feel like I've missed someone... Oh! Right! YOU."**_She snarled at Aigis.

_**"You call these bunch Persona Users? HAH! What a kicker... All their good for is doing clean up duty of getting rid of the Shadows. Nothing more. Nothing less." **_Minato's Shadow snarled, staring at the female Shadow with a nasty grin on his face.

"Hamuko...? Minato...? I don't get it... Why are you...?" Aigis questioned, looking at Hamuko and Minato with disbelief, this wasn't the Arisato's she remembers. Even though her radar's screamed; '_Two unspecified Shadows detected! Main Target Prioritize! Eliminate Shadows!' _She didn't want to believe that the two people she grew up liking, acting this way.

_**"Augh I absolutely DESPISED cleaning up those Shadows that the stupid scientist left. Idiots! All of them! I wanted to go to Tatsumi Port Island to be with my brother! Not to visit him in the hospital because he got shot from a Full Moon Operation and then to finish up his role!" **_The Shadow of Hamuko spat out, disgusted.

_**"I went to Gekkoukan High for education purposes... But in the end my time got swallowed up with other things that I didn't want to be involved with! Training! Tartarus! Dark Hour! Full Moon Operations! Oh. And don't even get me started with those bullshit Social Links!" **_Shadow Minato groaned, even hating to mention those two words all together._** "So many people were victims for this stupid collection of Social Links, and it hurt even more when it was a team member... Yukari... Fuuka... Souji... Teddie, and now Aigis... More victims of this pathetic excuse to power up the Personas... The power I didn't even want from the beginning!" **_Shadow Minato grabbed out a dark mimic of an Evoker, throwing it on the ground before hammering at it with his giant battle axe. _**"I never wanted THIS! I just wanted to grow up as a normal person! Why me!? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!"**_

One final swing with the axe, broke the copy into a million pieces, leaving the Shadow in his position, not going back to an idle stance, it just stayed in the position after throwing the battle axe down once more.

The others was left horrified, staring at the scene in front of them.

"Minato… Is this how he feels?" Yukiko mumbled to herself, a few more words brushed out of her lips, quietly whispering, "His hidden feelings...?"

Aigis just kept staring at disbelief. She felt a single tear roll down her cheek, exactly like the same time where they thought they lost Hamuko against Nyx, but she was there, in front of them, standing in front of the disappearing Tartarus. Only thing was that was a different kind of sadness; a more joyful one. This one was filled with sorrow. "Victim of Social Links...?" She repeated in her mind as she brushed off the tear.

_**"Even after we did get rid of the Dark Hour, it has rained before us once again! Whose fault was this? Eeny, meeny, miny… Me! Thinking back, I could've killed Ryoji and let the world burn from The Fall! But oh no, no, no. You see that's what I did at first. But then I was sent back to have another chance! But whyyyyy? My decisions, my choice! Why chase Nyx, when I didn't have the strength to become the Great Seal that would break anyway? Our EFFORTS was put to a waste! Into the trash can it goes! Scoorreee!" **_Shadow Hamuko threw her hands in the air, waving around as if she just won a soccer game.

_**"Everything was a waste… And now we have another group of teenagers doing the adults biddings! Does society even deserve what trouble we go for them?! They can't even acknowledge what we went through two years ago! And now this?!" **_Shadow Minato returned into an idle position, readying his axe. _**"But that doesn't matter now does it? Don't worry… We'll put an end to your misery… Won't we sis?" **_Shadow Minato started to emit more aura around him. The same applied for Shadow Hamuko. The both of them giggled.

"Get ready everybody!" Rise warned from the back, summoning her Persona instantly, but then she remembered something as everybody ran into their positions, "Wait a minute… Something doesn't seem right…"

_**"ORPHEUS!" **_The two Shadows shouted, before two black tarot cards appeared in front of them with The Fool on it, it was instantly crushed by the motion of nothingness, like it just broke itself. There was two Orpheus' that appeared. One was the one Minato would summon, the more masculine looking one. Then there was the female looking Orpheus, who had longer hair and a heart shaped lyre. Even though it was their Persona they just summoned, there was a darker shade to it. Like someone just had airbrushed black paint over them.

The Personae circled around their summoner, before the two reached for their lyres, strumming it to cause fire to abrupt to everybody. Yukiko was untouched by the blaze, Mitsuru and Chie was sent tumbling down onto their knees being weak to the fire. Mitsuru wasn't hurt that badly though, considering her weakness to fire.

_**"We are Shadows. The true self. If The Fall can't do its job, we might as well end the world ourselves!"**_

"They didn't even transform?! Why?" Yosuke shouted, this obviously wasn't their ordinary Shadow fight.

"They should've… But I don't get it either. I can't even sense the real Minato or the girl." Rise replied to the comment softly, not getting it either.

"If my suspicions are right, then they may have _merged_with their Shadows… Or rather, their Shadows have taken over temporarily." Mitsuru suggested, not really understanding it herself, the only best she could do was assume. Throw out theories until one hits dead centre; the bullseye.

"In either cases, we have to fight and keep them from going berserk." Souji announced, "Rise! Start scanning!" Souji summoned his Persona, Izanagi, shocking Shadow Minato with a Zio, hoping that because he's using Orpheus, he'd be weak to electricity, yet that wasn't the case. Of course. It's never this easy...

"Got it! You can win this, I'll search for any openings!" Rise shouted, immediately looking for any openings or warnings.

"Aigis! Activate Orgia Mode!" Mitsuru commanded.

"Understood, releasing limiters!" Aigis did that, before becoming more faster, "Summoning Persona!" She summoned her Persona, Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom came to her side, inflicting Akasha Arts on the two Shadows. After the Persona disappeared she ran over to Chie's aid, helping her up, before assisting Mitsuru. the both of them thanked the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. Aigis went ahead to summon her Persona again, to increase everybody's attack with a Matarukaja.

Next, Naoto used the Evoker to summon her Persona once again, "Come! Sukuna-Hikona!" With the press of the trigger, the deity of medicine came to her aid, raining down a Megidola on the two Shadows, sadly it didn't affect the two very much, "Almighty won't be a wise decision then..." She muttered to herself.

Shadow Minato giggled as Orpheus was called on once again, the master of strings attacked the whole team with its lyre, damaging the team with its swift strike.

"You've got this in the bag, just don't use light or dark! Anything else is good to go!" Rise filled in the team with what she got from Himiko, earning a nod from Souji and Mitsuru.

"I command thee!" Mitsuru shouted as she summoned Artemisia, finally getting her chance to execute something with a Mabufudyne. That certainly lifted an odd burden on her chest.

"Rawr! Bear-sona!" Teddie roared as he clawed The Star tarot card, making Kintoki-Douji float around before healing everybody with a Mediarama, recovering their injuries from the Swift Strike. As Kintoki-Douji floated away, Take-Mikazuchi rushed in, head-butting Shadow Hamuko with a Fatal End, only to be smacked away by said Shadow.

Shadow Hamuko wasn't pleased as she groaned to summon her Orpheus, igniting both Chie then Mitsuru again exploiting their weaknesses, ending her riot with attacking Souji head on with her naginata.

Chie dusted her skirt, as she got back up on her feet, still feeling the heat circle around her body from the fire, summoning Tomoe Gozen to go on a short rampage. Yukiko's Persona soon flew in straight after, making her own fire abrupt on the two Shadow's.

The two Shadows grunted before they both summoned at the same time, both of the Orpheus' came flying to the team, strumming at their lyre's, raining Myriad Arrows at the team.

Izanagi was summoned again, sending another bolt of Zionga at the two Shadows, Aigis called forth Pallas Athena, increasing everybody's defence with a Marakukaja, and then calling the Persona again to drop a God's Hand on Shadow Minato. Pallas Athena backed away to its summoner as Sukuna-Hikona came jetting straight in, slashing at Shadow Hamuko with a Tempest Slash.

Shadow Minato ran over to Souji, clawing at him with his bare hands, feeling the impact, Souji felt something being pulled away from him. Feeling as though in slow motion, he saw the Shadow back away, he didn't feel Izanagi at his side anymore. His Persona was _gone_, he tried to mentally call for another Persona, but none came to his aid. Souji dropped on his knees, as the Shadow backed away with a blue tarot card in his hands. Souji gasped as he clutched his hands on his chest.

_**"Izanagi!"**_Shadow Minato shouted, before summoning the called Persona just the same way Souji would, Izanagi blasted the team with a Zionga, sending Yosuke down, if it wasn't for Orgia Mode, Aigis wouldn't be able to dodge. After summoning the Persona, Shadow Minato raised his axe high up as it transmogrified into a mimic of Souji's sword, now holding it exactly like Souji.

"Izanagi...?" Souji questioned weakly, still kneeling on the ground, keeping his free hand at his chest, clutching it tightly.

"This isn't good! The Shadow's taken Souji's Persona!" Rise shouted, now concerned for Souji.

"Tch! Then we have to do something about it." Mitsuru summoned her Persona once again, calling Artemisia to heal up Souji's major injuries with A Diarahan. Teddie's Persona floated about, as it sent another blizzard of Mabufula to the Shadows, proceeding with a Take-Mikazuchi angrily smashing a lightning bolt to cause another thunder of Zionga to strike the Shadows.

Shadow Hamuko shook of the hit, as she continued to summon her Orpheus, attempting to hit the robot, Aigis with its odd version of an Assault Dive. Aigis still having Orgia mode activated, was able to dodge the attack quite easily, though she felt like she was being slowed down by the minute, coming to the end of her limits.

Chie took this chance to attack Shadow Minato, wanting to take care of him first; right now he was the main priority, being more dangerous right now as from taking Souji's Persona, temporarily silencing him. Tomoe Gozen sliced at him with a Black Spot.

Konohana Sakuya flew in right after, setting fire to the floor with a Maragion, getting lucky with a stronger hit, sending the two Shadow's to the ground. This gave them the opening for an All-Out Attack.

"Let's attack with all our strength!" Yukiko shouted, prompting an All-Out Attack, asking Mitsuru if they shall commence Operation; All-Out Attack, since Souji was unavailable to aid them.

"Attack!" Mitsuru nodded agreeing to the All-Out Attack, all but Souji rushed in, some shouting their own battle cries, as they all start to commence the All-Out Attack, smoke immediately surrounded them all, the sounds of weapons clashing were heard before everybody slide out from the smoke, causing the smoke to erupt in a classic mushroom style before disappearing completely.

Souji felt Izanagi return to him straight after, he lifted an eyebrow as he felt surge of energy filling his body up.

"Great job keep at it everyone!" Rise cheered, "Souji's got his Persona back too!"

The two Shadows got back up onto their feet; the black tarot card of The Fool appeared before turning around to show the blank back of the card, it flipped around again revealing The Magician. Shadow Minato's weapon that mimicked Souji's transformed into two kunai, seeming to copy Yosuke now, destroying the new Magician card in a similar fashion, as Yosuke felt his Persona being pulled away, leaving him gasping and panting. Shadow Hamuko got her own Magician card that crushed itself on its own, having her naginata turn into a two handed sword and moving into a new position. Two new Personas appeared by their side, by Shadow Minato was Yosuke's Persona, Jiraiya. Aside by Shadow Hamuko was a Persona the Investigation Team couldn't recognise.

The two Personae worked together in unison, Jiraiya attacked the team first with a Magarula, before the unidentified Persona spread it's dark-golden like wings before some blades came down to hit the team. The two Personae then disappeared.

"Not Jiraiya too..." Yosuke panted feeling exhausted without Jiraiya on his side. Aigis and Mitsuru was left baffled.

"Trismegistus..." Mitsuru mumbled, "Iori's style of fighting... His Persona..."

"Urgh! Their properties have changed! Give me a moment to scan it..." Rise moaned, rather frustrated. Scanning the two Shadows again.

Souji let a short harsh hiss pass out his lips, clenching his jaws tight as he switched out his Persona over to Rakshasa of the Strength Arcana, summoning said Persona for a brief moment to Power Charge up for his next move. Aigis took this chance to rush in forward, jumping in the air to shot a few piercing bullets at Shadow Minato, landing on the ground she felt short circuited and started to overheat. She made her way quickly over to the back, to cool down for a moment, shutting off Orgia Mode before she over circuited.

"Please protect Aigis until she cools down from using Orgia Mode!" Rise advised to the team.

Having that in mind, Naoto summoned her Persona again, letting Sukuna-Hikona jet in and slash at Shadow Minato with a Tempest Slash.

Shadow Minato giggled again as he summoned Jiraiya, still mimicking Yosuke's movement as he did so, Jiraiya did it's fancy spin, making another hurricane with the Magarula sending it towards the team, sending a certain Kanji to the ground.

Artemisia was summoned by Mitsuru again, smacking her whip on the ground, sending more icicles of Mabufudyne towards the two Shadows. Kintoki-Douji floated about again, sending a shower of Mediarama towards the team, healing them all.

The fight went on for hours, going back and forth between the Investigation Team and the Shadows, often enough the Shadows would switch/steal more familiar Personae, going from Jiraiya and Trismegistus, to Konohana Sakuya and Artemisia, to Caesar and Take-Mikazuchi, to Isis and Tomoe Gozen, to Kala-Nemi and Sukuna-Hikona.

The lastest change consisting of Juno and Himiko was probably the oddest of all. Both the Shadows would use 'Oracle' when Shadow Hamuko had Juno to use it, it'd be random going from majorly damaging the team, to healing their health or Spiritual Points... When Shadow Minato used it, it'd be a random choice of a Ma(Blank)dyne.

Last but not least was Kintoki-Douji and Pallas Athena, Teddie's and Aigis' Personae.

With a final execution point from Mitsuru, freezing them with one last Mabufudyne, sending the two Shadows onto the ground one last time, claiming a victory for Team Investigation Team. "The shadow's are getting stronger as well..." She mumbled running her free hand through her hand somewhat leisurely.

The team stared at the two fallen Shadows, watching as the blue aura surrounding them faded away, a few feet away from the fallen people, the Shadows reappeared, somewhat transparent this time.

"Look... Their Shadows..." Chie started, staring at the Shadows, who seemed to look into their direction, but seemed to be staring into space. She placed her hands on her hips, moving in her signature stance.

"Mitsuru was right, but I don't get it, why did their Shadows try to take over their host?" Rise questioned to herself, the others but Mitsuru and Aigis asked that same question internally.

"I think... I might know the reason behind that..." Aigis answered with a sadden look on her face, gaining the attention of everybody but the other former S.E.E.S member. "It's... Quite a long tale though..." She glanced off downward into the distance.

"It's okay Aigis, you can tell us about it another day." She looked up before glancing over to Souji, who had a reassuring smile, Aigis placed a hand on her chest and gave a small smile back.

Two short grunts and moans came from a female and male, catching the teams attention straight away.

* * *

_A/N: And that's marks the 15 chapters goal! I'll be honest, this is somewhat a huge achievement for me, seeing the is the first time I wrote something that has been 15 chaps. Actually this is my first long fic overall! Can't wait to reach my next goal which is at 30 chapters. I wanted to do a full battle chapter, but this just ended up being another of those chapters that I wanted to end._

_Helloimlxs: Yes, the other S.E.E.S members will be making another appearance before they can start playing their major roles. It's just a matter of time when they do start playing a bigger part._

_Frostfire613: Thanks, but I wouldn't really consider this fic amazing... *awkward chuckle* But uh, to answer your question, it's basically both; Their Shadow's taken over, that idea came to me because of how Death was sealed inside Minato for 10 years and you'd think that having a Shadow for a long period of time would affect you in some way. In Hamuko's case… I can't really tell. *whispers* It's a secret to everybody… For now._

_Demonraily: I agree that chapter 14 is probably the most clusterfucked and confusing out of all of them. But hey, can't make quality chapters all the time and I can't please everybody with every single chapter. *shrug*_  
_I MAY go back to rewrite it, but I don't really know any other way to rewrite it._

_And that's it for this author's note! Thank you for reading, reviewing, adding to favourites and such. I'll see you guys next chapter!_


	16. Chapter 16

From the Third to the Fourth.

Chapter Sixteen: Understanding.

* * *

The brunette was the first to sit up, along with Minato, who was rubbing his forehead. The team walked towards them a bit, getting closer to see if they're okay.

"I..." Minato mumbled, sliding his hand down off his face, looking around the room before noticing the team and the familiar area, "Tartarus...?" He looked over to Hamuko, before remembering the past events, "That's right I..." His voice trailed off as he helped himself, the female doing the same.

He turned and saw the transparent Shadow that represented him.

"Arisato... I..." Mitsuru started, but leaving her voice trailed off upon hearing a light chuckle from the blue haired male.

Hamuko turned around staring at her Shadow, with a saddened look, "What is this?" She questioned, lowering her head down.

"You." Minato simply answered, as he walked towards his Shadow, who glanced back at him with widened eyes. "A side of you that you repressed in a bottle and throw it away... Praying it never opens again."

"I see... So this is me, huh?" A smile formed on her lips, before looking at Shadow, "My reluctance of becoming a seal, thinking that when that seal breaks, the Dark Hour would return along with Nyx and that it would be my fault..." She hummed, "Those are all definitely things I said to myself before throwing it away. Discarding it because I had to do what I thought was right..." A small laugh was heard from the female. "Even though _we_understood that, I still was reluctant to go through such path... And that was pushed away too... You went through so much, and I deeply apologize. You are Hamuko Arisato as well, and you are a part of this family."

The transparent Hamuko showed a soft grin, like Hamuko would, _**"Keep smiling through the downs and live with determination!"**_The Shadow cheered, smiling away, pumping her arm in the air. Hamuko chuckled, those words that she always said to herself, was now advice for herself, from herself. Who would've thought that she would see that one coming?

Hamuko glanced over to Minato and his Shadow, Minato showed a blank expression, dead silent, staring at his Shadow like they were having a staring competition.

"I never wanted the power of Persona... That was something I said to myself over, and over, and over, and over again. Each day, each night, whether it be in my notebook or just internally saying it. I'd tell myself that same line the moment I gained Orpheus... Yet I kept striving onward as a member of S.E.E.S..." Minato paused for a moment, "Why...? It wasn't because I had to power, but because I choose under my own free will to help. Becoming a leader, being responsible for everything... Was something that almost drove me nuts, and before I knew it, there goes my schedule, always changing about to fit everything in, making sure to make everybody happy." Minato looked away, staring at his sister before looking at the ground, biting the bottom of his lip slightly.

"I always understood that how it was going to be, that's how my life was going to go, and I just nodded at that and kept going. Yet I always had my doubts, my worries, my fears, my strengths... I'm no perfectionist, but I acknowledged that I'm human too. I have a Shadow, who has always been by my side, being overshadowed. To forever be bottled up hoping that one day, you'd be free. Lifting a huge burden off of your chest. I am thou and thou art I... That's how it goes, doesn't it?" Minato smiled gently at his Shadow as he finished confessing his feelings, finally being able to remove the lid to that bottle.

"Minato..." Aigis said not sure if she's relieved or still rather depressed.

The two transparent Shadows nodded, as blue light surrounded the two, disappearing before returning as their original forms, as Orpheus. Minato and Hamuko heard a voice stir about in their head as they looked at their Initial Persona.

_I am thou, and thou art I._

_Upon facing thy true self we shall grant you our blessings._

_Thou hast been blessed with the power of our true potential._

_We have awakened to the power of Cipher upon thee overcoming life's hardships._

Light surrounded the two Orpheus as they both transformed into something new. Minato's Orpheus, was the first to appear, Orpheus' new appearance was now red and gold, looking as if it just went through an upgrade.

_I am Orpheus Telos. Born once again with endless possibilities._

Hamuko's Persona appeared right beside Orpheus Telos, taking on a new form entirely, while her appearance remained the same, the Persona wore a long golden gown, arms still somewhat mechanic like, the golden lyre still was attached on the back, the Persona's red scarf remained in its original place.

_I am Eurydice Telos. Burn once again with endless possibilities._

The two Personae disappeared, as two blue tarot cards floated down towards the two. The two caught the card, and stared at The Fool tarot card one again before disappearing into their psyche.

Hamuko was the first to drop onto her knees, becoming exhausted from the whole thing. Everybody walked in closer.

"Are you okay?" Aigis was the first to question the brunette with a concerned look on her face.

"Aigis..." Hamuko smiled and nodded, "Yeah I'm just really tired. And hungry too!" She let out a small giggle, having Minato to shake his head to the sides. She noticed the others, only two others were familiar faces. "You can introduce me to these people later, okay?" Aigis nodded before letting Mitsuru help her up.

"We should get going then..." Yosuke mumbled nudging Souji who jolted from that but only nodded as a response before adding.

"I guess that adds more things to talk about..." Souji noted to himself, before speaking up, "Great work today everybody... Let's go back to the normal world and rest up," Everyone nodded as they started to leave the area, leaving a choice few of people behind, namely Mitsuru, Aigis, Naoto, Minato and Hamuko.

"So. The Dark Hour is back… Did it return last night or…?" Hamuko questioned looking over at Mitsuru, lowering her eyebrows a bit.

"It's actually been back for a while now. It was active during this month's full moon back on the fifteenth. Thankfully there weren't any Shadows to be fought that day..." Mitsuru answered with a straight face, "However... Nyx will most likely appear. Also most likely to commence The Fall once again... When that day is, we all have no idea."

"Wait... What is the date today?" Minato questioned quickly turning around facing the red-haired female.

"Twenty-ninth of July... Both you and Naoto seem to have 'disappearing' ever since to both of you was last seen at the Police Department." Mitsuru still answered with her straight face, her eyebrows moving down by the moment.

"Minus the time you claimed to see me around on the eleventh..." Naoto added, raising one finger before placing it on her chin, "That still bothers me..."

"Two weeks have past?" Minato looked at Aigis. "Aigis, I..." He was cut off by the robot running into him and hugging him tightly.

"Don't you dare disappear on me again! Do you know how worried I was?!" She sobbed into his shoulder, Minato sighed as he patted the girl's head.

"I'll try to make it up to you." He told her, smiling softly.

Aigis pulled away from the hug, feeling more relieved as she nodded to the blue haired Fool.

_I am thou._

_And thou art I._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana..._

Minato groaned upon hearing those words, he still hated hearing those words, feeling the world pause for just a moment as the tarot Thoth card of The Aeon shined bright. As the world came back into motion for him, he stared at Aigis, who tilted her head at the boy in confusion.

"Is there something wrong?" Aigis questioned, still having her head in a slight tilt, looking at the boy with concern.

Minato hummed a no at her, "I'm fine, just probably getting really tired... We should head out." He told her, making his way out of Tartarus, "Yep, tired. Totally. Way to go Minato Arisato." He told himself in his mind, as he just lied to his friend.

"Understood." Aigis simply said as she followed right behind him.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hamuko shouted as she ran to catch up to the three, leaving Mitsuru and Naoto staring at each other.

"You can tell me what happened on your end once we get out." Mitsuru said to the female detective, who nodded back, "...I also apologize for letting them know your gender."

Naoto shook her head, "That's alright... After my talk with Minato, I thought about it... And thinking about it, gender issues in work related areas is the least of my worries."

Mitsuru nodded from that, "Magnifique. Well then, shall we get going?"

Naoto nodded before walking off returning back to the normal world with the rest, her and Mitsuru instantly went straight to the Junes Food Court to talk it over, Naoto, still being a bit fearful of the past events. They sat across each other on a single table. Just the two of them.

"Just to recall, you definitely have no idea what has happen in the past two weeks and 4 days?" Mitsuru started things off with a question, resting her hands on the white table. Naoto shook her head.

"No. Not at all... It's really odd how it even happened..." Mitsuru adjusted her position as Naoto started to tell her tale, "We were just talking, catching up a bit... We didn't even realize how much time as passed as we did talk to each other, I'm surprised nobody came knocking. Before we knew it, there was a power outage for a short bit, when the power came back, I looked at my phone, and the clock said it was the sixteenth of July, midnight. Technically speaking it would still be the fifteenth... This happened to be the day the full moon was up as well... I questioned the four day skip on my phone, but I brushed it off, thinking that I perhaps adjusting the day one time, or it just rebooted to a random date and time before of the power outage."

"In reality that would've been the Dark Hour becoming active, whipping out the electronics in the process..." Mitsuru added in, gaining a nod from Naoto.

"Yes, that would be the most likely case. However with the power coming back, I'm thinking that the Dark Hour just simply flew by pretty fast, but then that would mean that I transmogrified into a coffin and that would have applied to Minato as well. By the time the Dark Hour passed, Minato's Shadow already had taken over, he started talking about Minato's compressed feelings, I wasn't sure what to do during that moment and before I knew it, he jumped into the TV, going to that other world. Looking back at the time it was the twenty-ninth, three in the afternoon... I went to ask Souji for answers and questions but instead that made me going off to find Minato myself..." Naoto let her gaze go off, having her voice trail off. "I remember Aigis mentioning that she might have an idea behind their Shadows attempting to take over their host... you, her and me... We all share this idea to what that is, don't we?"

Mitsuru hummed as she adjusted her seat once more, not comfortable enough with her adjustments, "You remember how Aigis had to seal, Death, the thirteenth Shadow Arcana inside him? If you think about it, that Shadow had been sealed inside Arisato for almost a decade. We are all willing to bet that there is a possibility that the Shadow has possibly affected Arisato in some shape or form. For the other Arisato, Hamuko..."

"Erebus, a creature based on the Greek Mythology creature that is the deity of darkness... Representing sorrow, sadness, angry, people wishing for death... That being took down her seal releasing the Dark Hour and is now working its way towards Nyx as we speak... Somehow, as the being came into contact with Hamuko, that might of been a transmit to cause her Shadow to go haywire as well."

Mitsuru nodded, "According to the Investigation Team, they would usually have the person disagreeing with what their Shadow had to say, before losing it and claiming that their Shadow isn't them, causing the Shadow to go berserk and transform into their real form, but as we saw today, it felt as if both Shadows were already berserk."

Naoto started to drum her fingers on the table making a rhythmic sound as she did so, "What are we going to do? With both the murders _and_both the Dark Hour and Nyx returning... Everything is starting to collide."

"We might have to wait until the next Full Moon before we think about what we need to do. We have no idea when Nyx is going to come back, nor do we know when Erebus actually gets to Nyx at all. If this becomes really serious, we may have to gather the rest of S.E.E.S."

"But that could be quite troublesome as well considering where everyone headed off to..."

"That's true, I've already talked to Akihiko about that after the Full Moon, and he's trying to see what he can do on his end... The rest of the Kirijo Group already knows that I'm staying here in Inaba until the Dark Hour and Midnight Channel issue is resolved. Of course some are going to be arriving here shortly to get me back into business here in Inaba... "

"I see... But there is still one thing that is irritating me..."

"Arisato's first disappearance?" Mitsuru lowering her brow at the detective.

"Yes... That... Do you know anything relating to it?"

"Well... Out of curiosity I actually asked Seta if Arisato has told them anything about us as S.E.E.S, and Arisato has only told them the basics so far, Seta also had let me know what the team though and apparently they suspect that Arisato may have been a victim for the Midnight Channel like the announcer, Konishi, Amagi, Tatsumi and Kujikawa. The odd thing is that Amagi recalls seeing Arisato on the Midnight Channel before any of those people, which made the Midnight Channel rumour start in the first place... But there was also the fact that Arisato claimed to only awoke in the other world on the seventh of July."

"But considering that, that would make Minato the only victim that was outside of Inaba, if we were to say that the suspect was at Port Island before going to Inaba, why target somebody who is in a coma?"

"Someone wanted to get rid of Arisato...? Hm, but then that would make the suspect aware of Personae and Shadows... I'd suspect Strega right now, but the two members are dead and the last one remaining has no memory of anything that occurred in the Dark Hour or anything relating to Shadows and Personas."

"There is also that 4 month gap. Time is faster is the TV World, but currently we do not know how fast it is in there. If it was like Tartarus the time spent in there around the end of March to the seventh of July..." Naoto started to count using her fingers, "That'd be about One hundred and two hours spent in there... Rounding that, it'd be about a total of 4 days and six hours... Regardless of time, Shadows would've attacked Minato in either case."

"Unless he was in a protected area, like the floors where we fought Guardian Shadows or the floor with the barricade... However they found Minato in the TV World's Tartarus... Er... Not the Tartarus we just fought the two Shadows at... There's the exact replica somewhere in the TV World."

Naoto hummed, pausing that drumming for a brief moment, placing her free hand on her chin. "...This case has become rather complicated... Can I ask what happened with the Naoto you saw on the eleventh?"

"Well, Aigis and I, we were searching for the both of you via Artemisia, as we suspected we found nothing, and reported to the Investigation Team. Seta suspected that the two of you were already in the TV World, and we almost left to go find out when, well, _you_ came in. _You_told us that 'what we are striving for is impossible.' And that 'our 'game' will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least tell us that.' And just left us with that."

Naoto let out a short groan, "I'd suspect that it _may_be a Shadow, but the chances of that is quite impossible... Can Shadows come out of the other world?"

"Well, other than Teddie, I don't think so."

Naoto raised an eyebrow at that, "You mean that bear? ...He's a Shadow?"

"...It's complicated." Mitsuru crossed her arms at that, "Let's leave it at that."

"Right..." Just then Naoto's phone rang, "It's probably important..." She grabbed her phone and looked at the caller ID, it was someone from the Police Department. "Sorry, I have to take this."

"Take your time."

Naoto flipped open her phone, pressing the top half on her left ear lightly, "Naoto Shirogane." She told the other side, going silent as she heard a few words from the other side, humming and nodding, even though she knew the person on the other side wasn't going to be able to see those nods, a few 'yes, hmm I understand' came through her lips, before becoming dead silent. Jolting up from her chair, "What do you mean by 'the suspect literally came in confessing it was him'?!" She immediately yelled, "Student of Yasogami...?! Keep him there! I'm on my way!" She flipped the phone closed, slamming her fist on the table. "Damnit! I'm sorry Mitsuru, could we continue this another time?"

Mitsuru stared at the detective with a firm look, she closed her eyes and nodded, "Of course, I understand that you've got to go attend something important... If it's relating to the murder cases please fill me with the details another day."

"Thank you." Naoto rushed off, running as if her life depended on it. Leaving Mitsuru alone at the table, the redhead sighed as she got up from her seat and gently pushing any chair sticking out, back in neatly. The messy area was really getting on her nerves as she left the area.

During the late night at the Amagi Inn, Hamuko rested along with her brother in his room, occasionally throwing questions at each other every so often. Although, it was more like Hamuko throwing the questions while she received nothing from her brother, being carried away by listening to music through his mp3 player. She looked over at the clock, noticing it was nearing Midnight.

"It's getting that late already?" She sighed, she got up and poked Minato, who temporarily took off one headphone and stared at her as he laid down flat of his back, staring at the ceiling. He hummed a short tone, translating to 'What is it? This better be important...'

"I'm heading back to my room okay? Sleep well." She patted his head, earning another short tune from the blue-haired male, as she left the room, leaving Minato to himself staring at the ceiling.

Before he knew it, the Dark Hour struck, noticing the atmosphere around him was going greenish colour and stared having random puddles of blood flow down from the ceiling.

"Time waits for none." Upon hearing a voice, Minato shot straight up, sitting up and looking around the room for the source of the familiar voice, Minato furrowed his brows, he definitely thought he heard a familiar voice, but he couldn't put a finger to who that was. Standing up, Minato looked around the dark room once more, his last stare was at the door, where he thought he saw a boy leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Minato cautiously walked towards the door, curious to who that boy was. He slowly reached towards the door handle, placing his hand firmly on it before twisting it counter clockwise and pulling the door back, looking at the other side of the door it was still dark out but something's was still visible, still there was no signs of the boy.

The blue-haired fool carefully, popped his out of the doorway, looking left and right for the boy before stepping out of the room completely. Looking again to the right, he saw a figure leaving, taking a turn into another hallway. Minato started to walk forwards, casually following the boy slowly.

"Where are you going?" He heard a female voice softly spoke, almost making him stiffen up, he turned around, seeing Aigis behind him with a straight face. Minato took a deep breath, feeling like he could breathe again. "Sorry..." She apologized, already understanding she almost scared the living daylights out of him.

"It's okay..." Minato muttered, before raising his voice slightly so the girl could hear him, "Just don't do that again..."

"What are you doing at this time?" Aigis questioned, tilting her head, the only reason why she was up because she thought she picked up on a Shadow presence, of course that might of been Teddie, but he's with that Hanamura guy if she recalls correctly. She was going to go investigate, but the presence wasn't there anymore, causing her to become more curious.

"Just thought I saw someone by my door... Might be just my imagination..." Minato started walked towards his room again, "I'm heading back to sleep, okay?" Aigis nodded, understanding, before leaving the boy and heading back into her own room sharing with Mitsuru and Hamuko.

Minato sighed as he walked back into his room, closing the door gently, hoping that it wouldn't screech a single creak, not waking up any neighbours, he was lucky this time that it didn't creak once, it was quite a flawless closing unlike many other times.

He walked over to the couch sitting down laid back, the Dark Hour was still active as ever, Minato wondered when it will end, but before he knew it he felt his consciousness fade, falling asleep right away.

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room..." He heard a familiar female voice, he opened his eyes, noticing he was in the Velvet Room, looks like they have called him, he noticed that the Velvet Room looks different, for some reason he really like the Velvet Library more than the current Velvet Mansion that had been temporarily damaged. He took a glance around, before noticing that Souji and Hamuko was called to the Velvet Room too.

"Don't fret, you are all asleep in the real world..." Margaret announced the obvious like Igor would when the guests was called to the Velvet Room. Hamuko noticed the tarot card in the middle of the table in front of her, The Tower on the upright position. "I've merely called you all here to give you a warning. As you can see, The Tower in the upright position represents overthrown an existing way of life and major changes Although fate has chanced us with the power of the two former Wild Cards, the flow of life has changed, merely taking another spin with the Wheel of Fortune... What is about to unfold in the future... We do not know. However we will continue to give our support... That is all."

Souji glanced over to Minato who shrugged, Hamuko raised an eyebrow, thinking that what the unfamiliar Velvet Room attendant was talking about was the return of the Dark Hour and The Fall.

Souji stood up from his seat and thanked Margaret for the warning - although they were all unsure of what the eldest attendant was talking about - before leaving the Velvet Room all together, Minato took his leave as well, leaving Hamuko with the third Velvet Room attendant.

"Um... Who are you?" Hamuko questioned, but then waving her hands, "Wait! Don't answer that! What is your name? I don't think I've ever met you here before..."

Margaret let out a short chuckle, "That's correct, this is the first time we've met, my name is Margaret, as you can already tell I am another Velvet Room attendant, like my younger siblings Theodore and Elizabeth, I am in charge of Souji's compendium."

"Wow, you are all related?! That's something new... But um, Margaret was it? Where's Igor and the others?"

"Our Master isn't present here in the Velvet Room today, I believe he went to go visit an old friend... But he will return shortly. As for my younger siblings... Well, Theodore and Elizabeth are currently repairing some of the rooms..."

Hamuko frowned, upon remembering what she did as her Shadow. "...Could I go and help them out? I should be responsible for my actions after all..."

Margaret huffed out a small giggle, "Of course, there is no need for my permission, Hamuko. They're in the back."

Hamuko's frown turned upside down, turning into a soft smile, as she nodded at the eldest of all three Velvet Room attendants, almost about to get up from her seat.

"Wait, before you go, I have something to show you." Margaret announced, pausing the Maroon Fool in her movement for a brief moment, Margaret reached from the ground and picked up a compendium, putting it gently on the table. "Your compendium is still intact although..." She paused before flipping through a page, stopping at the end of the Fool section, Hamuko noticed that some pages of Personae that she created was blacked out, having a lock in front of it. It was on the page for Susano-O, the ultimate Persona of the Fool Arcana. Hamuko raised her eyebrow at the page.

"Susano-O won't be able to return by your side. He has taken a call towards another individual of the Magician Arcana, but he awaits for that individual to become stronger. The same has applied for Messiah he is awaiting for an individual of the Fool Arcana." Margaret turned the page until the page for Messiah, the ultimate Persona of the Judgement Arcana. Hamuko nodded understandingly.

"Thanatos..." Margaret said as she turned towards his page at the end of the Death section, didn't have a lock on him, although he was blacked out as well. "He wishes for you to become stronger first..." Margaret started flipping through blank pages, going from the Fool, all the way to Judgement. Going past through each Arcana. "There are also many Personae willing to aid you, some wishing you to grow stronger first, some wanting to aid you right away. They all however, require you to create new Social Links for that specific Arcana."

Hamuko nodded reluctantly, unsure if more Social Links are going to affect her like it did with her brother, but she thought about the positive about it, that would mean she would be able to get to know more people. Wouldn't it?

"I understand..." Hamuko told the other, understanding the situation, Margaret closed her compendium and the world came to a halt for the Maroon Fool, as a blue card flipped in front of her very eyes. The Empress Arcana. She heard a female voice whisper in her head.

_I am thou, and thou art I._

_Thou hast established a new bond._

_These bonds shall bring thee closer towards a new path to victory._

_Thou shalt be blessed when thou choosest to create Personae of the Empress Arcana._

Time resumed to her as the tarot card disappeared, Margaret showed a kind smile. "My, my, looks like fate has brought us together..." She said closing her eyes. "I wonder how our friendship will grow out to be like...?"

Hamuko smiled at that, other than knowing Theodore a bit, she was quite curious of the other Velvet attendants and what they were like. She thanked Margaret, hoping to meet her again in the Velvet Room, as she got up from her seat going towards where the other two attendants were at, hopefully to apologize and help them clean up.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! __Now to casually await for confusion to stir up *hit by stick* __ Just joking though. *laughs* But oh man, even though I've planned the rest, I feel rather nervous with what you guys might think with the ending I have in store. But of course we have like what? 30+ chapters to go through before we even go into Izanami's or Nyx's arc. What am I going to do once I finish this once? Idk maybe work on a P3 project, or the one with Aigis and Teddie being related AU fic._

_If I was to work on the P3 project, it'd be an AU where the roles are reversed. And the protags is no other than Liz and Theo and the attendants of the Velvet Room is the Arisato twins. Mm, might start planning it out. Time to reply to some reviews._

_SuperNova23: It quite is frustrating for me as well, I'd love know what goes on in Liz's story mode, but I shall wait until I receive P4Arena. (I'm still waiting Australia, ffs.) I think either way, I'll be writing what I've planned and said 'Okay this is how it'll go now. Let's pray I don't fuck it up in many ways possible but watch as I do so anyway.' Oh the frustration of writing fics... __This is why you don't let young teens write fanfics._


	17. Chapter 17

From the Third to the Fourth

Chapter Seventeen: The 'Original' Tartarus.

* * *

**- 7/30/2011 -**

It was about four in the morning, everyone else was probably asleep in the current room consisting of Hamuko, Aigis and Mitsuru. The red-haired female was the second of the three to wake up, Aigis being the first since she doesn't require such thing, sitting on the ground nearby the coffee table, the laptop screen shining quite vividly on her face. She was typing furiously into a chat box, her speed going no faster than forty nine words per minute.

__/_ queenExecutioner started chatting with protienFsteak at 4:00AM _/__

_QE [4:00]: You're up rather early, Akihiko. I thought your shift started at 6?_  
_PF [4:00]: hah, just thought you'd be on at a time like this, plus couldn't really get any sleep last night. you know, dark hour and stuff._  
_QE [4:01]: I see. Watch your health then, I don't want you getting sick from all that._  
_PF [4:02]: i'll be fine mitsuru... oh! almost forgot, fuuka and i finally finished writing down from what's been going on at our side for the past few days/weeks._  
_QE [4:02]: Oh? _

__/_ protienFsteak sent queenExecutioner file 'Report ' _/__

A small pop up box appeared on Mitsuru's side, asking if she would accept the file, pressing yes, she saved the file in a folder on the desktop titled 'From Others.'

__/_ File successfully sent _/__

_QE [4:05]: Thank you, Akihiko._  
_PF [4:06]: no probs, but I also have something else to tell you._

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at that, obviously knowing that Akihiko won't be able to see that.

_PF [4:07]: I went patrol into tartarus tonight, just to check if it really appeared back here. but uh... we have a problem._  
_QE [4:08]: ...I already don't like the sound of this._  
_PF [4:08]: tartarus wasn't there, the school didn't transform into it! _  
_PF [4:09]: i don't get it mitsuru... i was thinking that tartarus would come back along with the dark hour and the fall but... where the hell is nyx going to come?!_  
_QE [4:10]: Akihiko, calm down..._  
_PF [4:10] sorry..._  
_QE [4:11]: Remember how I told you that there is a copy of Tartarus in that TV World?_  
_PF [4:11]: oh yeah, i remember you telling me that like a week ago. still have that chat log saved in my com. _  
_QE [4:12]: I'm thinking that Nyx will arrive at that Tartarus at one point._

Mitsuru minimized the chat box; going to where she had saved the file she received earlier, opening the Word Document right away. She noticed that the chat box started to flash, signalling that she got a response.

_PF [4:15]: 1/31._

She tilted her head, what about January thirty first...?

_PF [4:16]: that was when Nyx came down, remember? that was the appointed day the fall was going to commence._  
_QE [4:18]: I see. So that means we have until next year... I guess that means we can sort of relax for the mean time._  
_PF [4:19]: true... _  
_QE [4:20]: ...So I guess when that day comes, we have to worry about losing one of the Arisato's again..._  
_PF [4:21]: oh yeah... i forgot about that whole 'nyx can't be defeated' thing._  
_QE [4:22]: I don't believe in it. I'm sure there must be a way to defeat it._  
_PF [4:22]: you never give up do you?_

She smiled at that.

_QE [4:23]: I do my best._  
_PF [4:24] haha, oh and about getting the rest of S.E.E.S together again?_  
_PF [4:25]: everyone is okay with transferring temporarily._  
_PF [4:26]: keep watch for the next full moon, it'll be on 8/14. _  
_PF [4:26]: we'll watch for any full moon shadows or just any shadows in particular. if you get anything roaming about on your side let me know asap._  
_QE [4:27]: Right, same goes for you._  
_QE [4:27]: Before you go Akihiko_  
_PF [4:27]: yes?_  
_QE [4:28] If you can, could you contact the other's in the Kirijo Group? Tell them that I'm requesting for 8 more Evokers to be made and deliver it to the Amagi Inn._  
_PF [4:29]: for the new persona users, right?_  
_QE [4:29]: Correct._  
_PF [4:29]: i'll try to see what i can do._  
_QE [4:30]: Much appreciated Akihiko._

__/_ protienFsteak stopped chatting with queenExecutioner at 4:31AM _/__

Mitsuru closed the instant messaging program, logging out as she did so, her gaze shifted to the word document, as Akihiko had said; it was written by Fuuka and himself. She gave it a glance through, noticing it was only a page long and written with a 8 sized Arial font it said;

_7/15/2011_

_Hello Mitsuru, I was told by Akihiko to write a report for you, after we check if anything was suspicious here during the Dark Hour on the Full Moon, after consulting Juno, she has reported to me that she has found two identified Shadows, although they were both listed as harmless and passive. I'll just be going through from what she has told me._

_After I summoned her, I gave her the time to scan for shadows, upon detecting the two, she immediately scans their whereabouts. Moments later, they were detected to where you were, Inaba, along with many, Persona Users…. Akihiko has already let me know about them. Juno then listed them as harmless, passive, non-hostile, and all that kind of things. Akihiko has already told me about the one Shadow who is on your side, what did you guys called him? Teddie?_

_Anyway; the second shadow she detected was oddly familiar… Though, she couldn't get anything more from that, there was like this barricade, a shield protecting that Shadow, not allowing me to pick up on the Shadow. But since it was harmless I'm assuming that it isn't like the Full Moon Shadows we've encountered all the time._

_During Dark Hour times, she sensed a third Shadow. I don't know how to say this, but it had the same frequency to Minato… Like the Shadow was Minato… I don't know how to explain it._

_I'd also like to say, that on 7/11, even without Juno being activated, I felt a presence of a Shadow somewhere about 3... Without thought I summoned Juno somewhere safe, out of sight from everyone, I never knew that Evokers worked outside of the Dark Hour... Guess you learn something new every day… She told me that she sensed a Shadow in Inaba as well. It was a more hostile one though, other than that I'm not sure what that Shadow is… Please be careful, it still might be roaming around._  
_And I think that's about it… I'll be sure to keep recording things that I might pick up during the Dark Hour._

_7/16/2011 to 7/28/2011_

_I still sense both the harmless and passive Shadows over there at Inaba… Not including the Teddie person Akihiko told me about. They still seem to be roaming about Inaba. The thing is was that they are only there during the Dark Hour as I have noticed. About the Shadow that I sensed at 3 on the 15th, I forgot to mention, but when I checked after the Dark Hour, that Shadow wasn't there anymore. I'm not sure how the Dark Hour works, so this is just a theory, but I'm assuming that the Shadow is becoming active just during the Dark Hour._

_This also applies to the passive Shadow; but that Shadow can apparently be active during normal time as well…_

_7/29/2011_

_Sensed the Shadows, again, along with two more... It's weird… One of them was that Shadow's similar to Minato and now there's one for Hamuko. Talking about Hamuko, ever since the Dark Hour came back I haven't picked up on her until today. I tried to follow it, but something was preventing me to going any further, I think it might be that TV World Akihiko told me about…_

_Um, if anything becomes major, I'll be more than happy to help out again. I don't really mind being transferred for a bit… Yukari's a bit reluctant about it, but she has agreed to it as well. Everyone else is okay with it. We'll just be waiting until it is necessary to get involved._  
_The next Full Moon as you already know is at 8/14/2011. I'll keep summoning Juno during the Dark Hour and see what else I can find._

_-__Fuuka_

* * *

_Akihiko here. I've probably have already reported to you about the patrol but I might as well try to explain it more, and I'm sure future me has probably forgot to mention something anyway._  
_As you know, I went to visit Tartarus at 7/29, I even went before the Dark Hour commenced, but once the Dark Hour occurred, I waited for Gekkoukan High to transmogrify into Tartarus any minute._

_Strangely enough it never happened. It just stayed the same as Gekkoukan High. I'm not sure what to make of it, even after you told me about the Tartarus Replica in that TV World. But honestly, I'm kind of panicking here._  
_I'm going to talk to Officer Kurosawa in the morning; I want to see if I can get myself involved with what's going on at Inaba since it's relating to the Shadows. If I'm successful, I'll be at Inaba somewhere in probably a day or two. And if I can manage, I'll bring Koro with me._

Upon finishing reading the document the second time, giving the proper read though, Mitsuru closed the document, before shutting the computer down, before closing the lid, letting the Acer brand laptop take its time to shut down, feeling a yarn starting to escape her lips, Mitsuru covered it up with her hand, as she let out a quiet yarn, asking herself if she should take a bit of a nap or wake herself up completely.

Going with the latter, she pushed herself up straight, stretching a tad bit to relax her legs from sitting down for the past thirty minutes, before changing into some casual clothing, then to walk out of the Amagi Inn. Apparently Yukiko was already up too, sitting on the edge of the wooden platform. Cautiously approaching the raven haired girl, Mitsuru walked quietly.

"I see you're up early as well, Amagi." She greeted softly, making the girl turn surprised.

Yukiko placed her hand on her chest, somewhat surprised by the red haired female's appearance. "Oh Mitsuru... It's just you." She sighed in relief, "What are you doing up at a time like this?" Yukiko patted an empty spot next to her, asking if the female wanted to sit next to her, taking the offer, Mitsuru sat down next to the next heir of the Inn.

"Years ago, I would always wake up at this time. I guess old habits stay." Mitsuru chuckled, "How about you?"

"Just woke up, can't really go back to sleep..." Yukiko's gaze went to the distance in front of them, watching a small number of cars fly by. "I guess there's too much on my mind."

"Hm, I see." Mitsuru hummed, understandingly.

Yukiko started to fiddle with her fingers, somewhat uncomfortable, "What do you think will happen next, Mitsuru?"

Mitsuru crossed her arms and closed her eyes, thinking about it for a minute, there was a pause before Mitsuru opened her eyes again, blinking them rapidly before it returned to normal pace. She hummed before responding, "To be honest, I'm not sure myself, Amagi... We had troubles getting to watch the Midnight Channel when it rained a few days before... We are not sure if anyone has been thrown in there but Teddie... We fought both of the Arisato's Shadows. The Dark Hour's back... Honestly if it's one thing I know, it's that anything that happens in the future, it won't be good news."

Yukiko nodded vaguely, "This journey... To me it's like a long string of wool. To uncover the truth you must untangle the string, picking at every knot just to find it... But as we go on, more knots, harder and stronger appear... But we are such a big group now, I'm sure we all can work together to unravel the truth." A soft smile showed on Yukiko's lips, as she turned her head to Mitsuru.

Mitsuru smiled back, getting up from the spot, "Very true words, Amagi... Well, I'm going to go talk a walk around Inaba to get my mind clear and straight. You want to come?"

Yukiko got up from her spot, brushing dust off her skirt as she did, she nodded, "Sure, why not? Got to pass the time somehow..." The two walked off, starting their trip around the block, occasionally going back to forth in random topics they could think of, sometimes relating to the murder cases and the TV World, sometimes even talking about S.E.E.S though it wasn't anything much of importance, just about the other members.

Meanwhile inside the Inn, Hamuko just woke up herself, returning to reality after the whole cleaning up thing at the Velvet Room. The first thing she noticed that Aigis was not in the room, and Mitsuru wasn't around. Hamuko figured that the Ice Queen was out, noticing the laptop light still flashing, indicating that someone just closed it and it was still in the process of shutting down. The Android, however... It was most likely that she snuck into her brother's room. She did it to her once, so why not her brother?

She shrugged at that, figuring she should go visit her brother as well, getting up from her bed, not bothering with her hair or clothes so she just walked over to her brother's room in her red and white pyjamas.

She was about to knock on the door, hoping that Aigis will hear it and open it for her, but instead she heard the two talking to each other, Hamuko placed her head against the wall, making sure that her right ear can attempt to pick anything up from the other side.

"Is that what they are?" Hamuko heard Aigis' voice as monotone as ever, after that came Minato's flat toned hum. Translation: Yes.

"These 'Social Links'..." Hearing those two words made Hamuko furrow her brow, why are they up so early talking about Social Links? "They sound like a great thing to have, being able to spend time with your friends, while at the same time your psyche grows stronger..."

"They're really not... Majority of the times, I don't feel myself become closer to that friend, but I still get that 'Rank Up.' Like its some silly role-playing game and dating sim combined. Even then, if I do decide to max that Social Link, I lose that friend forever, never to talk to or be with again..."

"Is that why you feel regret when a team member is a part of that Social Link?"

Another hum, translation: Yeah. That's why I prefer to stray away from people.

"It's odd isn't it? Out of all the emotions I can actually feel, its regret and guilt."

That lifted Hamuko's brow, making a frown slowly appear on her face, of course the whole thing that happened to the both of them because of the crash... Time to knock and interrupt, she didn't want to hear him explain why the majority of their expressions and feelings are forced, they only did what they thought would fit with the situation... She knocked three times before calling out. "It's Hamuko. Can I come in?"

"Doors open." Minato called back, giving her the okay to come in, turning the knob in a clockwise direction, coming in casually, walking in before taking a seat on the couch, whereas Minato just laid on the floor and Aigis kneeled near the table.

"Did you get any sleep?" Hamuko questioned her brother, out of curiosity, referring to what he did after their calling into the Velvet Room.

"Not really. Too much in mind, you?"

"Just came back from it."

Minato hummed an 'Ah' in response, he rolled over to his side before getting up, walking over and taking a seat next to his sister, Aigis remained kneeling near the small coffee table, although spinning around to face the Arisato's.

"Hamuko, what do you feel when you engage in a Social Link?" Aigis asked out of the blue, almost catching the brunette off guard. Hamuko pretended to act surprised and gave Minato that questionable look of 'why are you talking about Social Links to here?' Surprisingly, Minato just shrugged.

Hamuko turned her attention back to Aigis, hanging her head for a minute thinking what she could say in response. She only had about what? Three to five social links? Fool, Death, Judgement maybe Fortune and Aeon if she remembers correctly. Of course her link with Ryoji was the oddest of all, considering she didn't want to become close to him, knowing full well that they will have to fight each other on that day.

"That's a tough one." Hamuko started, "In all honestly, I'm glad to be able to spend time with that person. If I happen to Rank Up or gain a new Social Link, then I begin to worry for myself and the other person... My Social Link with Ryoji is proof of that."

"He's dangerous..." Aigis muttered under her breath.

Hamuko let out a soft laugh, "Who would've thought that out of all the people to gain a Social Link with, it would be with the person who will call for Nyx, even though he was quite reluctant to let us fight Nyx... Ryoji was an enemy and a friend. But that didn't stop the guilty feeling from coming when I spent time with him..."

"That reminds me. From what I heard from Mitsuru and Aigis, you become a seal to prevent Nyx from coming back. How'd you come back? I thought that once you became the seal you had already 'died'." Minato inquired as he turned to Hamuko, never really thinking about that one before.

Hamuko hanged her head, she doesn't really remember much in her seal times. It was like she was sleeping for a long time. The only things she remembered was mostly things she did as her Shadow and well, Erebus coming and completely destroying the seal.

"Mitsuru and I was planning to tell you about it when we explained to you about the Abyss of Time." Aigis answered instead. "During the Abyss of Time, we learnt about the Great Seal Hamuko created, and found the answer to her 'death' back in two thousand and ten. I'll tell you the full story one day. But in short, we went through the Abyss of Time, the day would reset whenever it hit Midnight, leaving us in an infinite time lock on March thirty-first, the same day Minato went missing. During the events of the Abyss of Time, I was granted the ability to the Wild Card temporarily, giving access to the Velvet Room and to my own compendium. In the end we fully learnt about the seal Hamuko created was only temporarily was not for Nyx, but to prevent Erebus to getting to Nyx, as the seal wasn't strong enough to be permanent. With that in mind we all knew that the Dark Hour and The Fall will return, not knowing when it will, but if it did, we would be prepared to take action again." Aigis finished explaining the story giving the quick version. Leaving out details such as Metis and seeing memories of the team's past to be explained another day.

"I see..." Minato nodded vaguely, "So when the Dark Hour returned, that was when this Erebus creature broke your seal?"

Hamuko nodded, "I don't know when that happened though, seeing I must have been taken to the Velvet Room to rest up."

"One thing still bothers me." Aigis spoke up, "Hamuko's Shadow knew that I possessed the Wild Card ability. How did you know?" She asked the brunette with a concerned look.

"Oh that... At first I didn't know why, but remember Graduation Day? How we waited for everyone at the roof?"

Aigis nodded, getting the gist of what she was trying to get at.

"Something in my mind told me to give you the key to the Velvet Room. I shrugged at it, and snuck it key into the pockets of your school uniform. I'm guessing that's what gave you access to the Velvet Room and the Wild Card, temporarily..." Maybe deep down inside, Hamuko knew she was giving her the Wild Card with doing that, maybe that's what sparked her Shadow to snarl at Aigis upon counting the Wild Cards in the Royal Deck of Persona Users.

With that Minato stood up from his spot, "I'm going out for some fresh air..." He sighed, "Want to come?" The two females nodded, taking the offer as they went outside of the Amagi Inn, standing out from the entrance, it was still dark, but it won't be for long until the sun rises.

Aigis was already spacing out, looking at the distance, while the twins were engaged with their own quiet conversation.

"So how much did you hear?" Minato asked, knowing that his sister eavesdropped on them.

"From 'Is that what they are?' to 'It's odd isn't it? Out of all the emotions I can actually feel, it's regret and guilt.' Was I too obvious?"

"Just odd that you literally knocked after I said that, I wasn't planning to tell her, not now anyways."

"If you are going to say it, might as well wait until you have to explain yourself to the other Persona Users."

"I'm really tempted not to explain Social Links to them though... I don't want them to think that Souji is using them."

"I'm sure they'll understand." Hamuko tried to reassure him, patting his back, showing a soft smile thinking it was right to do so.

"I pray that they do... But regardless I am going to wait a bit, get my mind cleared up before I tell them anything." He took a deep breath, "I may have recovered psychically, but I haven't recovered mentally..."

"You too? I thought I was going to go nuts because of our Shadows abusing Fusion Spells like that."

Minato yarned as a 'same here' came through as well, as he headed towards back into the entrance of the Inn, "I'm going to skip school for today, I don't want to stress myself even more in this state..."

"Oh right, I have yet to transfer myself..." Hamuko cheered anyway, "That means day off! Come on Aigis, we're going back in to rest."

"Understood." Aigis simply replied as she turned to walk back into the Inn with the other two, Hamuko ended up hitting the bay in Minato's room again, leaving Aigis, who remained awake, to take care of them. In her bored times, she went to grab Mitsuru's laptop to 'borrow' it for the meantime, just to pass more time. Eventually, Mitsuru came back into the Inn with Yukiko, also barging into Minato's room (more like Mitsuru getting worried where the two were at.)

Aigis had to explain the situation, while the twins just slept through it all, laying down rather comfortable on the floor on top of their own futon. Mitsuru understood that the twins needed more time to recover from facing themselves, Yukiko took note to let Minato's homeroom teacher to know that he will be absent for the time being once she arrived at school.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Yeah, I know I said this story was going to go on hiatus for a bit, but it only ended up being like a four day hiatus. This chapter is a bit of a filler, nothing much but explaining and random conversations. Next chapter we hopefully we get more action as we head into our next arc! (You can take a guess what our next two arcs are going to be, it's quite obvious tbh.) So I guess right now I'm going to start juggling this story with P3SEF, work on this at school, and work on P3SEF at home. I'm a bit happy with how The Fall of The Star and The Aeon came out as well. (The fanfic AU where Teddie and Aigis are related.) Though I don't think it was a good one shot at the same time..._

_Joyous times though! Time to reply to some reviews!_

_SuperNova23: Yes, there are two Tartarus' in the TV World; the replica and Hollow Tartarus (you could consider that the Shadow Arisato twins created this one.) They both mimic the real Tartarus, seeing that Shadow Hamuko came out from the Velvet Room into Hollow Tartarus. So it's most likely that the Wild Cards can access the Velvet Room in the other replica as well._

_DemonRaily: It's live or let die, huh? Now I'm really nervous with the ending I've planned. (And trust me when I say it doesn't involve either of those two happening. For better or for worse.)  
_  
_That's all for this author's note, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!_


	18. Chapter 18

From the Third to the Fourth

Chapter Eighteen: Midnight Channel Sickness.

* * *

_Post!A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait! I just got myself a PSP along with Persona PSP, P2:IS and P3P, so I've been replaying all these games in order, still at Persona PSP in the SEBEC route, just got Reiji into my team. If only I had a Vita and P4G, then it'd be a Kina Persona Remake Marathon. Been playing too much of Persona PSP lately so I apologize for my absence. I'm making it up to you with 2 chapters that are about 8,000+ words each. So enjoy!_

_But without further ado._

_Let us strike while the iron is hot!_

* * *

After school times, Mitsuru met up with Naoto again at the Food Court of Junes, apparently that place has literally became the god of all headquarters for every meeting possible. It wasn't long until the Investigation Team came walking in to join the party. Once everybody had sat down, it was time for the meeting to engage.

"I appreciate you all coming today, this is rather important so let me explain our situation before answering any of your questions." Naoto started, with her normal tone, gaining all attention. "Yesterday I was called to the office, apparently, a high school student by the name of Mitsuo Kubo came into the police station recently, confessing that it was him who murdered the following victims; Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi and Kinshiro Morooka..." That gained a few shocked expressions and a quiet groan from a certain male brunette. "I have already negotiated with the 'suspect' but I highly doubt that it really was his doing. The first two victims cause of death was unidentified, yet as I found out, the third victim, had a cause of death; blunt force trauma to the head. What do you think of this?" She finished, turning her head to Souji.

"It's odd." Yukiko softly answered instead, before speaking up yet still with a quiet tone. "Other than to throw off the police, why go through the trouble of doing something different?"

Naoto nodded, agreeing with what the raven haired female had to say. "I agree. From what I acknowledge with my negotiation with Kubo, most of the things he mentioned relating to the first two victims doesn't add up, which makes it quite suspicious. Obviously I can't really say much due to it being a part of police investigations..." Naoto sighed frustratedly, but there was a soft smile that showed anyway, "However all I can say is that I'm suspecting that Kubo is actually not connected to the first two murders at the least."

"...We suspected that whoever was involved with Morooka's murder, could theoretically be just a copycat killer." Souji told her, adding what they, as the Investigation Team, thought of the situation.

"That's what I thought as well." Naoto said, nodding again, "Until I have the evidence to back myself up, it's only a speculation that Kubo might be covering up for someone else... Unless nothing else comes up, then the police are probably going to consider this case closed in matter of seconds which is quite unfortunate."

"Tch, 'n then what? Let the actual killer loss?" Kanji growled softly.

"Sadly that may be the case..." Naoto let out a short sigh, "But judging by the circumstances of this, they are most likely to air on the news about the progress of the case..."

"Weather said it might rain tonight too..." Chie let out a huff, "Ugh, Midnight Channel isn't going to show either..."

Naoto lifted her eyebrows in confusion, "The Midnight Channel? I honestly thought that was just another urban legend of some sort."

Souji sheepishly smiled with that as he began to explain, "It's somewhat hard to explain, but it's connected to the other world, usually those who show up on the news, ends up on the Midnight Channel as well, it also determines who is going to be thrown in next.

Naoto shift her chin up a tad, nodding just a small bit. "I see, so that's why most of the people who were shown via the media would go missing for the next few days... But what's this about it not showing?"

"Apparently it just doesn't show at all anymore, like it doesn't exist." Yukiko softly explained, eyes gazing straight down, "It pretty much never came back since the ninth..."

Naoto shifted her gaze towards the red haired female next to her, "Do you think is this because of the Dark Hour returning?"

"It may somehow be related, but it's quite unlikely. I don't recall experiencing the Dark Hour until the next day, the tenth." Mitsuru replied nonchalantly, recalling any events from the past few weeks.

"I see..." Naoto said disappointed, she then returned her gaze to Souji and his team, "That's about it for me, I'm sure you have many inquiries for me, so please ask away."

Souji nodded, at the same time he thought what to ask the female detective... What should he ask first? Oh right there was that...

"What happened on the tenth after you spoke to us?" He started off, he needed to hear the story from Naoto's side, and maybe there was something to piece it up with what happened on the eleventh.

Naoto lowered her head, before briefly retelling the team what had happened, only to tell the story again in a more dot point format, keeping it somewhat short. Even after that everyone was still confused, everything just doesn't add up anymore. At first Shadows were supposed to be a separate entity entirely, and only went berserk when the host denies their existence. Then there was their recent case with the Arisato twins. Their Shadows already went berserk and completely took control of their host. Was it only different because they were not the same like the Investigation Team? Souji felt like he should question how the Evoker works later with Mitsuru. Souji decided to bring up the 'Naoto' they saw on the day after, leaving another mystery case open.

"So I guess we have a mysterious copy of Naoto going around town..." Yukiko commented softly like always.

"Out of curiosity, did this copy have any features that were different? At one point I was thinking it might be my Shadow, but..." Naoto brought up before having her voice trail off.

Souji shook his head, "Not that we know of, from what I remember I don't think anything was rebalance to one of a Shadow."

"It's most likely that it might be a Shadow though." Mitsuru mentioned, gaining all curious attention. "I've consulted a friend who has a similar Persona to that of Kujikawa's, according to her and her Persona, she felt a presence of a hostile Shadow here around three in the afternoon, around the same time we saw this other Naoto."

"Woah... That's pretty amazing." Rise commented, smiling at the thought of another person who has a sensory type Persona like herself. She's quite glad that there are others than her and Mitsuru who has this sixth sense sort of thing.

"Wait, that means we have a Shadow lurking around here in town?! Dude, that things going to wreck things up!" Yosuke yelled, not liking the sound of a Shadow roaming around in Inaba.

"Keep calm Hanamura." Mitsuru reassured him, "Apparently after the Dark Hour times, she could no longer sense the Shadows in broad daylight. Seeming like they transferred into only the Dark Hour times which is quite odd..."

Naoto raised an eyebrow at that, "Almost like how Tartarus only appears at the Dark Hour? That's quite peculiar."

Mitsuru nodded at it, "Quite so."

"Can't you summon your Persona during the Dark Hour to track the Shadow down?" Yosuke asked, addressing his question to the red-haired female who flinched at the question.

"While my Persona does have some sensory abilities, Artemisia can't track down Shadows like Kujikawa, she only can receive their data such as weaknesses and strengths." She replied sadly, disappointed with herself.

"How about we gather up outside of Junes at Midnight? I could give it a try, granted I've never tried to summon outside of the other world..." Rise said with a mix between a good and sad tone.

"We could give it a try..." Souji agreed, "However we should give that a try after they've recovered."

Knowing full well who he was talking about, everyone nodded. Souji turned to Yukiko, "How are they recovering anyway?"

"Fairly well." Yukiko replied, nodding, "According to Aigis, they've recovered physically, but not mentally. We might have to give them about a week or so until they both fully recover."

Souji only nodded back, somewhat understanding the situation, he recalled that Minato said that if he used too much of that Fusion Spell stuff, he'd be damaging himself mentally, Souji shuddered at the thought of his Shadow and the female's one combining their power to do more damage with their own versions of the Fusion Spells. There was also the added fact that their Shadows were taking control of them.

Before going off track, Souji brought the topic back to asking Naoto more questions. "Back in track, tell me Naoto, how did you figure out about S.E.E.S and Personas?" He asked, recalling how Mitsuru said that Naoto figured out their true purpose in S.E.E.S, even though to broad daylight they are some school club. Of course the truth was that they were basically the Ghostbusters, except it'd be more of a Shadowbusters type of thing.

"Ah, at first I had my suspicions when I was in Port Island. When I started to experience the Dark Hour and such, the two was being put together. In the end I confronted Minato about it and eventually learnt the truth along with what a Persona was. Apparently back then I had the potential, but I couldn't awaken my power no matter what for some odd reason. Mitsuru once gave me an Evoker and I tried multiple times to summon my Persona during the Dark Hour but my Persona never came. Of course not until yesterday." Naoto explained, "I am still unable to understand why that was so..."

"It baffled me too back then." Mitsuru commented, adding her thoughts in, "Why you weren't able to summon back then is still a mystery to us."

"The other female, her name was Hamuko, right?" Yosuke randomly questioned before going on, "I remember she said 'You are Hamuko Arisato as well' to her Shadow. She Minato's sister?"

"Yes, they're twins." Naoto answered the odd question, "Minato's older by about an hour. Why?"  
"She had that armband too, the one with S.E.E.S one it? Was she a member of the group as well?"

Naoto turned Mitsuru, she wasn't the best person to ask for that sort of information, seeing she wasn't apart of S.E.E.S herself.

"Yes she was, after the incident with Minato, she somehow came to help us. Shortly we appointed her as our leader in his place." Mitsuru replied softly, not wanting to welcome any of those memories back anytime soon.

Yosuke only nodded at that, not wanting to dig any deeper. Comparing S.E.E.S to the Investigation Team in his mind, S.E.E.S sounded like they had it way rougher than they had so far... It was quite tragic now that he thought about it.

"There's one thing that's bothering me." Souji spoke up, catching everyone's attention and drifted them away from the current topic. "The time skip Naoto experienced. I've been trying to think how it makes any sense, but I can't really seem to figure it out. You talked to Minato on the eleventh, but after the blackout due to the Dark Hour, it was the fifteenth, the same day as the Full Moon. Then after Minato disappeared into the TV World, it was yesterday."

"I've been trying to figure it out myself. At first I was thinking that I may have not experience the Dark Hour at first, but considering I've had the potential for about two years, I doubt it would be the case." Naoto agreed, not sure how the whole time skip business worked at all.

"Maybe it was something like the Abyss of Time?" Mitsuru questioned, only to gain questionable looks of 'what are you talking about?' Feeling like she knew that the Investigation Team wanted to know what the 'Abyss of Time' was, but she just added, "I'll tell you about it later..." They only nodded at that. Only Naoto was the only one who understood what she was talking about, despite the fact she, again, wasn't involved directly, she was told the details.

Naoto shook her head, disagreeing with that thought, "It would still be odd. The Abyss of Time only repeated the day indefinitely, plus it had a reason to why it even appeared. If something like the Abyss of Time was to occur, then there should've been something that triggered it to even happen. Even if it did have a reason, technically speaking, I went from a four days skip and then fourteen days skip. Eighteen day skips in total. It just seems a bit random, does it not?"

Mitsuru only hummed back at it, somewhat agreeing with what the detective had to say, they were all random numbers, what significance would they have if there was any?

Yosuke groaned lightly in frustration, he turned to Souji, "So what are we going to do now? We barely have any leads, and we can't tell who's going to be thrown into the Midnight Channel..."

Souji thought about it for a brief moment. "We just have to wait until something happens. We still have Teddie who can sense if anyone has been put into the TV World, he did tell us he would notify us if that happened."

"So it's a waiting game now huh?" Yosuke looked away as it begun to crunch up, showing pain and disgust. They all wanted to get to the bottom of this. That was for sure. Yosuke's face retrained into its original form as he let out a sigh.

"Unfortunately it's the best move we have right now." Souji reminded him, with that he felt the world come to a halt, that voice that normally talked in his mind spoke to him once more. It was the same old, same old.

_I am thou, _

_and thou art I._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana..._

_The Investigation Team Social Link has reached Rank Seven!_

Once the world came back to normal pace, Souji furrowed his brows at that, honestly, that was the weirdest Rank Up he's ever received yet. Actually he's even more surprised that no one has questioned anything about the Social Links yet.

"Well, they are most likely wanting to hear it from Minato anyways, to be honest..." He reassured himself in his thoughts, shaking off anything unnecessary thoughts. He ended up snarling at himself, "Geez, what's up with me lately? I've been so aggressive lately..." He shrugged it off, it's probably just one of those days... Or weeks.

He shrugged it off again, being calling the meeting to a halt, and thanking Naoto for her cooperation now that she's a new member to the Investigation Team. Yosuke commented that 'she has balls for a female' which made her blush and stutter in her next few sentences of not fully compressing what the brunette said into her mind...

By the time it was starting to become dark out, Souji had already made it back at home, separating from the group as the day ended, he honestly would go out and work part time at the hospital, but something told him not to go. Of course everything right now was a mess. It's probably been messing around with everybody's minds right now. Out of sheer boredom, he turned on the small TV in his room and began to watch by himself.

As Naoto predicted, that Kubo kid was on TV, the reporter talked about the police progression and that the case might be closed soon or some bullshit like that. Of course the police were bloody eager to end the case, it's been about three months since the case started. Now the only suspect they have is Mitsuo. Having enough, Souji turned off the TV by pointing the remote towards it and pressing the red button with the power symbol on it. If it was raining today, and the Midnight Channel happened to show, Mitsuo was most likely to show regardless if he was the suspect or not, right?

**[ 7/31/2011 ]**

He sighed in frustration, eventually, that hour came where the night turned green and the moon shined that odd yellow colour. Thinking about it and experiencing this hour for the past eighteen days, it most likely has to be that 'Dark Hour.' Curiosity sparked in his mind why Mitsuru didn't say anything about it yet. Maybe she doesn't know or is hiding it... It seems he was the only one in the Investigation Team right now that might know about this time being active. Either that or there's something about the former members of S.E.E.S seems to be hiding.

Souji didn't want to press onto that thought. He rubbed the bridge of his nose for a brief second before playing around with a stress ball. "What's _with_you?!" He hissed at himself. Great now he's growing suspicious of the former S.E.E.S members without a reason. "You're jumping into conclusions!" He pulled at his own hair, not with enough strength to actually pull it all out. His let his hands drift down, before they clasped around his nose and mouth. As he breathed, he heard it become louder but it was muffled. His breathing started to become heavy. He noticed how that hour dispatched quite quickly, the scenery returned back to normal.

Huh, last time it lasted for about an hour. Either it has been shortened or an hour passes quickly when you're not in the mood. Most likely the latter, he didn't want to think too much about this. There was a small hissing sound heard from the TV, which made him jump, making his heart race, he stared at the TV screen, which flicked to a screen of static. The hissing sounds of noise filled the room, making Souji block his ears from the annoying sound.

"It's not even raining though..." He reminded himself, he looked at the clock, and it reads 1:00am. It's way past Midnight, what the hell is the Midnight Channel doing? He returned his attention back to the screen. The static violently changed to an image slowly, curiously, Souji watched and waited for the image to show... Maybe just maybe...

A few doors down by, Nanako was reading a small children's novel to allow herself to become tired again, sometimes during the night she would wake up, but find it hard to go back to sleep, she found out that reading helps her to return back to dreamland, so that's what she was currently doing; reading until she becomes tired again. She was reading a small but wide book, apparently it's Detective Loveline, but it wasn't the novel series, this happens to be one of those prequels type of book, and it was more directed to the younger audience since it has pictures in most of the pages.. Maybe once Nanako becomes a bit older, she would start reading the proper series. She yawned, perhaps it was about time she went back to bed.

After placing the book down onto the small table beside her, she heard the sound of something hitting the floors and walls coming from the other room, possibly Souji's room, after that, came the sound of a door creaking open and hitting the walls loudly, a series of running footsteps were heard before the faded away downstairs. Her shoulders seem to loosen as she became worried, father was still out working, so the only person in was Souji.

"What's big bro doing up this late?" She asked herself worryingly, she thought to go after her big bro by follow him downstairs, once she was at the lower half of the house, she looked around for her big bro. She noticed that the lights in the laundry room was on, he was in the toilets which is located in the side of the laundry room. She walked into the laundry room before hearing the sounds of a male throwing up. She almost wanted to shriek at the sound of it, but apparently big bro is sick. After the sounds of barfing died down she knocked quietly.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly, before hearing harsh coughs and spitting that came afterwards from the other side.

"Not really..." Souji replied, his voice although heard muffled to the younger female due to the door blocking them from one another, she could hear it was quite rough like sandpaper, "Could you prepared me some medici-" He stopped mid-sentence before gagging and emptied any contents in his stomach right into the bowels of the toilet once again.

Nanako got the idea and ran off to grab some medicine from the kitchen shelves immediately, she quickly grabbed a packet of pills that stood near the front of the shelf, and she checked the label in case she got the wrong one...

"Panadol..." She muttered from reading the label, she remembers how when she got sick, her father would treat her with the children's Panadol. Not knowing much of medicine she shrugged at it, grabbing a glass of water along the way and ran back to the laundry room, and knocked on the door. There was a click sound in response, Souji locked himself in there?

She placed the medicine and glass of water aside near her as she opened the door, before entering she grabbed her things again and walked into the small toilet room. In there she saw a pale Souji who was kneeling on the floor in front of the toilet, his head hanging just above the bowl area. Said Souji happens to be in nothing but his white singlet and grey boxers, she noticed how the rest of his clothing were dumped to the side rather roughly. Judging by how messy it was, he has a fever as well.

As much as she didn't mean to take a peek in the bowl where Souji unleashed anything in his stomach, strange enough it was quite clear despite it being slightly yellow and had a bit of red in it. There was some food from dinner as well that ended up coming out. She cringed in disgust and flushed the toilet for Souji, Nanako knelt down near the sick elder before giving him both the medicine and glass of water. Souji took it slowly from her, he took two tablets from the packet before putting it in his mouth. Next he took the drink of water and drank it, swallowing the tablets with the water as well.

He coughed lightly before giving a reassuring smile to Nanako, basically telling her he was going to be okay. Of course, she didn't believe in. She placed her hand on his forehead. Yep, fever, she knew it. She looked at him with a deadly look, giving that 'you're not okay' attitude. She helped him up, although since he was the older one and being taller, Souji was still staggering and wobbling to and fro.

Nanako helped him to the couch in the living room, letting him lie straight on it, it wasn't worth it to try to take him back to his room, that was upstairs, which would make it more difficult. Here will have to do, she covered Souji with a cold blanket, it should keep him cool but at the same time keep him warm. Nanako made her way to the shelves again before getting out that stick and helps prove if you have a fever or not, apparently what she learnt from her father was that if the number is higher than 40C- whatever that small circle and 'C' meant - it means that the person has a fever. If it's lower than 35°C, the person has a cold. If it's around 33-36Cthen that meant the person was okay. She gave it to Souji, who put it into his mouth, snug under his tongue, he turned the device on and it beeped before it showed numbers. It went up and then went from 40C and 41C before it jumped to about 45C, beeped and flashed the number. Souji turned off the device, pulled it out from his mouth and gave it back to Nanako

She frowned. Big bro has a fever. She went off to grab a bag filled with ice and placed it on his forehead. She knelt down in front of the couch. She looked over to the clock, noticing it was almost two in the morning. She yawned again.

"Will you be okay?" She questioned her big bro softly, as her eyes trailed back to the sick silver haired male, her voice quivered with worry. She stared at the grey haired male with all of her concern, worried if anything bad would happen to her big bro.

"I just need some rest..." He replied still with a dried hoarse voice, he gave that reassure smile, "I'll be fine, you should go back to sleep yourself."

She nodded hesitantly, she didn't want to leave his side, but she could trust him to take care of himself. Taking his words to mind, she headed back upstairs into her room, leaving the sick Souji downstairs by himself, in the living room, with a throbbing headache.

The silver haired male was definitely in no condition to move about, he couldn't. Izanagi was screaming endlessly in his head, running in some sort of rampage while he gave this terrifying screech as he did so. Even so often, the Fool has to clutch his head with his hand, hoping the pain would go away. It didn't stop. For some reason, he couldn't remember what was that he saw on the Midnight Channel, despite the fact it happened about an hour ago. He's not this forgetful that's for sure.

Whatever he saw, it definitely made Izanagi go haywire, unleashing any power he had onto any other Personae Souji had equipped with him from the last battle. He felt their presence fade away until Izanagi was the only one left. As the Personae were being eliminated one by one, it made another form of nausea stir around in his mind, making the headache become even worse, filling almost any thoughts with torment. He was lucky enough to survive the small conversations he had with Nanako. How the hell would he explain it to her?

"_Oh, it's okay Nanako! I only just saw something on TV, and it made this monster inside of me go nuts and kill other monster! Which led me to throw up and gain this awful headache, but don't worry I'll be just fine!_" Yeah, sure she's only about six years of age, but she's smarter than that, like she would let that one fly straight out the window.

Well, looks like that was sent out of the window and into the trash can was his plans for the upcoming day. What was he planning to do anyway? Oh right, it was either hanging out with Yosuke or go work at the day-care if he was too busy. Looks like he might need to give him a call somewhere in the afternoon...

Even though the Silver Fool was sick, he managed to fall unconscious and sleep though the constant nagging pain he felt in his pain. He actually doesn't even remember falling asleep until he realized morning came and shine hardly on his eyes, making him instantly wake up. The throbbing headache and that constant feel of wanting to throw up were still with him. He checked his psyche, and all he could hear was Izanagi still throwing some kind of temper tantrum.

He moaned as he made an attempt to rub the pain away by massaging his forehead, it wasn't any good. The medicine from last night didn't do much but withdrew the pain just a tad bit. Then again, Panadol isn't the strongest medicine to fight a rampaging Persona. Souji shot his head up like a deer in the headlights when he heard someone coming down the stairs, followed with a faint sound of a song playing. He could tell by the lyrics and the sounds of it that it was his phone ringing.

"What was so much of transparency, turned into bright, expectation. My instinct tells me to keep going together. Going together." He heard the lyrics of the song Sky's the Limit being sung by Shihoko Hirata softly, the fade from it being soft to growing louder as the footsteps came louder. Eventually the ringtone stopped as it was replaced by the voice of Nanako's as she finally reached the bottom step.

"Hello?" She greeted, her voiced echoed as she reached the last step. She hummed. "Mhmm, this is Nanako..." As Souji looked at the female toddler, her face showed that general sad, but worried kid face. "Big bro...? He's sick..."

"Who is it, Nanako?" Souji whispered to her, his voice still as hoarse from early morning, or late night, depending how you wanted to see it. Nanako took the phone away from her ears and clasped her free hand over the phone, blocking out anything she would say.

"It's Yosuke. Chie and Yukiko seem to be with him as well..." She softly replied.

Souji extended his arm after coughing lightly, "Could you pass me the phone? I need to talk to them in private."

She nodded understandingly, she gave her attention back to the phone, "Big bro says he has something important to tell you, I'm giving the phone to him..." She passes the phone to Souji, he took it and Nanako immediately went back upstairs.

"_Rare to hear that you're sick, Partner..._" Yosuke's voice came, sounding as bored as ever. "_So... How bad is it?_"

"Pretty bad, I mean I-" He lightly coughed, before continuing he cleared his throat. "I spent about an hour throwing up in the toilet if that helps."

He heard Yosuke let out an awkward chuckle as two female's groaned by the sounds of that. "_Dude... Too much info. You're scaring Chie and Yukiko here._" A sound of something being hit hard was heard, after that came Yosuke's groaning before it was replaced by someone picking up the phone as it rustled about, to be replaced with one of a female's voice.

"_Ugh, freakin' Yosu-gay Stupid-mura..._" Came Chie's complaining giving Yosuke the most ridiculous nickname ever, her voice retracted to normal. "_Hey, did you happen to watch the TV last night?_" She asked curiously, somewhat out of the blue.

Souji nodded, even though he knew the other member wouldn't be able to see that. "Yeah. I honestly don't remember what I saw." Another wave of light coughs came, if only he had a single yen every time he coughed right now... "Whatever it was, it's causing my Persona to go haywire. It's driving me nuts..." He moaned as another wave of headaches accorded, that would be Izanagi zapping anything that moves with a Zionga.

"_Odd, I just saw it being blank like how it would show after we rescue someone? I wonder what's making your Persona to go nuts..._"

"Whatever it was, I hope it's not going to make this permanent.."

Chie hummed, "_Same here... Just rest for now, okay?_" Souji would've laughed at that since that is what he was doing, but hey, sore throat. It'd kill to even snicker right now. "_We already have two Persona Users sick already y'know._" She joked, hoping to lighten the mood, for some reason, it made Souji smile. Odd sense of humor, but hey, this is coming from a person who has dry humor. Yep. Good old times of playing with Yosuke's mind when Kanji was thrown into the TV World.

"_...You want a copy?_" He remembered the exact words he said to the Magician, also remembering Yosuke screaming 'NO!' like a little girl. Good times, good times...

"_Get better soon, Souji._" Yukiko's voice came up before the phone rang a dead tone. Souji flipped his phone shut, before making an attempt to reach towards the small coffee table. He had to be short by at least an inch. He chucked it softly only for it to slide right off. He sighed in defeat, rolling over to face the couch. Although he wasn't in the best condition, he managed to find the strength to rest for a bit...

Hours later and Midnight rose, bringing the toll of the Dark Hour once more. Hamuko lay on the floor on top of the extra futon next to her brothers. For some reason she seemed to woken up at the perfect time ever, she checked her brother, and he's fast asleep. The guy's truly a heavy sleeper like Hamuko herself. Maybe if she's lucky she could catch up with _him_. She knew that male had roamed about. She was partially awake when Aigis left to go searching for this man. She watched how the mechanic maiden left the room, running into Minato in the process, wondering why he was up so late.

Hamuko remembers how he thought he had seen someone at his door. Just his imagination he said.

She left the room, maybe she might be lucky to find the boy. There was something she needed to discuss with him. Her first stop to go look for him? Outside the entrance of the inn. There was this gut feeling that kept nagging at her to go there, so she did.

The Female Fool was lucky enough to find what she was looking for. A male with his black hair swept back, a long yellow scarf was covering most of the area of the back, removing some of the white shirt with black folded sleeves, the black suspenders, connecting to each other to form the shape of an X, and black pants from sight. The male noticed her presence and turned revealing two blue orbs and a small mole just under the left one. His expression was a mixture of surprise, delightful, happy and shocked. But the male smiled regardless.

"So, we meet again." He greeted with a genuine smile, it quickly turned into a frown however. "But our appearance here along with the dark night only means one thing, doesn't it?" Hamuko was about to answer, but it only seems to be a rhetorical question as the male in front of her proceeded with his speech. "The terrible fate of bringing destruction will fall upon once again... It may be about five months from now, but time never waits..." The male placed a hand on his chest as he looked towards the ground, allowing his voice to trail off upon realizing the inevitable.

"Ryoji..." Hamuko stared at the male with full concern, yet it came with icy daggers. "We're not going to allow The Fall to be recreated."

"But you cannot destroy Nyx nor Erebus. You know this..." Ryoji argued, shaking his head.

Hamuko remained quiet for a short period of time, giving that somewhat dramatic feel as if it was some sort of movie. "I'm not planning to face The Goddess of the Night. She is neither hostile or malevolent... My plan is to confront her."

Ryoji did a double take, eyes widened as it stared into a deadly calm Hamuko. "Wh-What...? You're planning to go _talk _to her?"

She nodded and hummed, making that a positive. "With the help of you and my brother." She gave a soft smile, although the boy knew it wasn't a real one, he knew she tried her hardest to think positive. "We can all prevent this all together."

Ryoji's facial expression retracted to a normal one, still giving Hamuko the full eye contact, "And what's your plan exactly other than confronting Nyx? There's still Erebus you know."

"I haven't really thought about it that far, but not matter what, I'll find a way through this." She answered honestly, she did just came back from being the seal after all.

Ryoji smirked from that, "You haven't changed since the last time we met..." Hamuko let out a small chuckle.

"Oi, what made you think I'd change?" She puffed her cheeks acting to be offended from the boy's remark. "Meany."

"Putting that aside, I'll be glad to help out as much as I can... Give it some thought, okay?" Ryoji told her, turning away as the darkness of the Dark Hour slowly engulfed him, "However time marches on... Until we meet again." In the blink of the eye, the boy vanished, the Dark Hour slowly faded away along with the male. Hamuko's expression returned to a very uninterested one.

"Time this, time that... Sheesh, this guy's way too addicted to clocks or something." She joked lightly, "Next time I see him, he'll probably a Cuckoo clock." She almost snickered at that, "Coo-coo! It's Dark Hour o'clock! Time awaits coo-coo!" She said in a weird tone attempting to mimic Ryoji's voice, only to sound like an old lady in the process of doing so. As she walked back into the inn she smiled at her little joke. "But then again, a limited edition copy of a Ryoji Clock wouldn't be so bad."

The Maroon Fool decided to head back into her brother's room, and continued her sleep over there.

**[ 8/1/2011 ]**

It was about early evening when the Silver Fool woke up, still suffering from the migraine being caused by his own Persona, although it wasn't as bad since the moment it's started.

"Izanagi seems to be clamming down a bit..." Souji mumbled quietly, thankfully there wasn't anyone else in the room currently. Well, except there being Nanako who had her full attention to the TV as she sat down on a pink cushion near the low coffee table. It wasn't like she was going to hear it anyway, apparently the TV was currently showing some advertisements, one happen to be on Junes. Of course knowing the commercial breaks, they will occasionally repeat some of the advertisements, the one for Junes was no exception.

"Every day's great at your Junes!" She sings with glee, enjoying every sound of the commercial as she repeat the second half of their motto.

Smiling at the scene, Souji repositioned himself up from lying down to sitting, hearing the couch move a bit, Nanako turned and got up from her seat to walk over to her big bro.

"How are you feeling?" She asks him worryingly, still concerned about his health.

"Fairly well." He told her reassuringly, as he got up from his seat slowly, wobbling a bit, "Still a tad bit sick, but I can walk it off." Souji headed to the kitchen first then, grabbing a bottle of painkillers and getting a dozen of pills out, just for the day and for any emergencies. It might not calm a raging Persona, but it'll definitely numb out the pain for a bit. For now, Souji drank down one pill with a glass of water, holding onto the rest, he slowly made his way up the stairs and into his room.

Seeing he was still in his singlet and boxers, he'll just have to put something on top. Of course he only resorted to his all favourite white collar shirt with short sleeves and brown pants. Yep. The generic casual stuff. It was a wonder that he remembers that they were on summer vacation right now. Normally he would go out hanging out with somebody, but there was something he needed to do first...

"Great! Here you go..." A male told him when Souji spoken to him in front of the Yomenaido Bookstore, Souji handed him the box that contained a pair of hard boots, and in return he received the Guide to Pests book along with 5,000 yen, which Souji wanted to refuse at first, but the man willingly wanted to give it to him. Well, that completed one of many quests...

Next stop was the Samegawa Flood Plain, he remembered talking to a young girl, probably just around Nanako's age, apparently she wants a Flower Brooch to be like her twin sister.

"Ah! A Flower brooch! Thank you!" The young girl cheered, carefully taking the brooch from Souji's possessions - in which he doesn't even remember having, probably just an item he picked up from beating up Shadows or something... - and stuffed it into a small pocket of her skirt. "Um, this is for you." She gave him three Value Medicines...

Upon taking it with a smile to show gratitude, the Silver Fool wondered why the girl carried it around... Oh well, another quest completed... Why was he doing these quests in the first place anyway? He shrugged the thought off, oh well, just being nice to other's he guessed.

A few minutes later, and he made it past the west entrance to Junes, past the windows he saw Yosuke just hanging around where the elevator was. Huh, apparently he's free today. Souji figured to go and say hi.

"Yo!" Yosuke greeted as Souji walked through the automatic sliding doors. "Hey man, how are you holding up?" He asked with a straight face.

"Better, seeing I can almost walk it off, however Izanagi's still making a ruckus..." He told Yosuke, who nodded and then shivered a bit.

"Ugh, I can't imagine Jiraiya or Izanagi doing that... I'm starting to worry what the hell you saw that night. But the Midnight Channel is back, right?"

"Who knows?" Souji shrugged, "My current guess is that the Midnight Channel might have changed its rules for some reason. It wasn't raining that night so who knows why it even showed..."

"That's true... I'm thinking about testing it out tonight-"

"Don't." Souji immediately said cutting in, making Yosuke shoot a look that demanded for the reason why, "We have to be careful. We don't want everybody's Personas going berserk because of it."

"I guess you're right... Chie's probably okay with watching though, seeing as her Persona didn't go nuts when she saw the show... That being said, you free today?"

Upon with agreeing to hang out with Yosuke, the two arrived in the Junes Food Court and sat down, eating lunch. Well it was more of Yosuke who ate, seeing as Souji wasn't in much condition to eat, he decided to skip out on full lunch, only eating a brief small snack.

"Hey! Hanamura!" A female yelled as she and her accompany came into the Court, walking towards where the boys sat. Oh, it was them again.

"What is it today?" Yosuke questioned with no interest of all.

"How come Kazumi gets the day off and we can't?" She immediately complains.

Not sure what they were talking about, Yosuke gave them a questionable look. Okay, sure it was vacation, but that still meant people had to work. Right? "What d'ya mean?"

"We told you before! We can't work on weekends!" The female with the red shirt threw in, defending her friend. "So when we refused they said they were going to fired us! I don't get it!"

"Well that's kinda because when you hired in you said you could work those hours... They hired you in expecting you to fill a specific role. When you then admitted you could not do your role, do not expect to keep your job..." Yosuke told himself in his head not having the courage to actually say that out loud.

"Hey, I talked to the manager..." Yosuke told them, "Have you been taking absences without leave lately?"

Beads of sweat could clearly be seen to slowly drop down the girl who had her hair in a bun. "I-I just forgot to come." She tried to explain herself.

"Do not expect to be able to _not_show up at work whenever you feel like it and keep your job..." Yosuke screamed in his head, "Ugh, keep your cool, Yosuke..." He then told himself.

"Besides, that's not the point! What are you going to do about this? I have a date that day!" She continued to yell at him.

"Oh _come on! _Is this the best you've got?! You could've planned that on a day where you and your lover was free!" Yosuke continued to scream his answer in his head, still not wanting to actually say it.

"How come you're favouring Kazumi, huh!?" The friend shouted. "You were like that with Saki too!"

Having enough Yosuke bolted right up from his seat, making it screech while it was pushed back harshly, apparently there was enough momentum that it went right down with a thwack as it hit the bricked floor.

"Oh! Maybe because the reason why I'm 'favouring' Kazumi and Saki was because, oh I don't know... That they actually worked and deserved it?! You want a free day, huh!? Is that what you want?! Then come to work, do what you have to do, and maybe, just MAYBE, I'll consider asking the manager to give you a free day! If you're so willing to work, then actually do it properly, and not come to work when you feel like it." He yelled back at them, completely losing his temper.

Backing off, the two females didn't see the manager's son actually yelling at them, instead they glared at each other before letting out a small giggle, finding it quite amusing to see Hanamura lose his cool like this.

"Woah Hanamura, take a chill pill." The bun haired female laughed, suddenly lunged at Yosuke, take him down onto the ground, she grabbed his hair and forced it down, smacking the back of his head onto the ground. Her face scrunched up as anger easily started to ease into her body. "You're obviously just mad that because Saki's gone, you can let Kazumi take it easy." Yep apparently they just discarded anything Yosuke said right out the window.

"Yeah! You think you can take out your anger on us because of that?! Ugh! It was quite obvious that you are letting them take it easy because you liked them! We saw how you liked Saki, so you let her have it easy, don't deny it! I bet you even had the guts to tell the others to take it easy on her. And now that she's gone you're moving onto Kazumi? It's quite pathetic, hun!" The short raven haired female shouted back, equally as pissed off as her friend.

Having enough himself, Souji decided to take actions into his own matters, bolting up from his own chair. "Oi!" He shouted, gaining their attention, his voice was still strained from being sick, but that didn't stop him. Risking getting a sore throat Souji continued. "How about you stop badmouth Saki, and just fuck off already? Don't you think you caused enough trouble already?!"

"Hey, why don't you shut up?! You're not a part of this!" The raven haired female walked towards Souji and raised her hand to slap the silver haired man, although her slap was easy to predict and was easy enough to dodge, of course instead Souji decided to grab her wrist instead and proceed to tighten his grip. The female's face started to fade into one with pain as she yelped and started to struggle her hand out.

Seeing that scene, the bun haired female loosened her grip on Yosuke letting his head take a final hit onto the floor and she proceeded to help her friend out. Souji decided to loosen his grip completely, letting the female fall onto her butt, her friend lend a hand. "Come on let's go and quit our jobs here and find a better on. These guys aren't worth it." Bun haired female softly spoke with anger to her friend, hissing out any sounds towards them. The other females face started to brighten as tears begun to emerge on her face as she whimpered a nod. Before running away the raven haired female gave them the middle finger expressing her anger towards them.

"Good! Because you're both fired anyway!" Yosuke shouted at them whilst they ran, once they completely vanished, Yosuke groaned, scratching the back of his head, hoping to rub out the pain.

"Feel any better?" Souji questioned as he extended a helping hand towards the boy who landed on the floor.

Yosuke nodded as he reached towards the hand, once gripped, Souji pulled him up, Yosuke wobbled to and fro for a bit until he regained his balance. He dusted off any dust of the back of his shirt and pants, Souji ended up brushing anything off from his back to help out. "Yeah, I feel a lot lighter now that I got that out of my system." He joked, smiling pathetically, "Another pathetic display from Yosuke, huh?"

"A very pathetic one too." Souji returned the joke sarcastically which made Yosuke punch his shoulder with a medium pact so he at least had to feel something.

"Hey, I thought you were on my side jerk." Yosuke chuckled. "But seriously though, thanks a lot. I honestly didn't expect them to tackle me like it's rugby or something."

There was a pause, allowing for the ranking up of the social link to interrupt Souji, taking him out of the moment.

_I am thou, _

_and thou art I._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Magician Arcana..._

_The Yosuke Hanamura Social Link has reached Rank Seven!_

It was that causality he had to deal with, one moment he will be in that one mood and then that happens. It happens though, and there wasn't much he could do about it.

"I owe you one man." Yosuke told him with his comical smirk and wink.

"Hey, it's what friends do you know. We stand up for each other." Souji told him, wanting to refuse the 'IOU' note.

"Fine, fine you got me." Yosuke raised both hands in defeat, like someone was about to arrest him. It went down quickly and ending up being crossed. "Nah, just joking, it'll be on the house next time. It's what friends do you know."

"Curses, foiled by my own words yet again!" Souji hissed quietly to the side, admitting defeat himself. He ended up spending a bit more time with Yosuke around in Junes before they parted ways. Once he managed to get back home, it was starting to become dark.

"Welcome home." Nanako cheerfully greeted him before turning back to watch the TV again with full amusement, deciding to skip out on dinner, Souji decided to return into his room and continue to read Fun with Numbers thoroughly, giving the book his full attention.

He felt his diligence and knowledge increase somewhat just a tad bit as he read the textbook that teaches the very fundamentals of mathematics and the concept of numbers. He started to wonder how Kou even managed to learn anything from this book.

"The conversation between Mr. Plus and Miss Minus makes learning maths needlessly complicated…" Souji questioned the books content, but hey it's just a book, most of them have very confusing plot points and making things harder to understand for no reason…

Once he found a point to finish reading, he closed the book, still having many pages to go through for next time. Souji set the book aside, just in time for the Midnight Channel to pop up as well, he prepared himself for anything he might witness…

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Again, sorry for the delay, *laughs*, reviews will be answered in chapter 19. So thanks for reading these three chapters, I'll see you guys in chapter 20!_


	19. Chapter 19

From the Third to the Fourth

Chapter Nineteen: The Fool's Plan.

* * *

Moments later after checking the Midnight Channel again, Souji found himself in the ground floor of the house, doing the same thing he did the night before; throwing up endlessly for an hour while his Persona went around going crazy. Yeah, he knew that was going to be a bad idea, but he risked it. Once again, he doesn't remember what he saw on the show. Thankfully this time he didn't wake up Nanako or had to strip down to his undergarments because he started to feel like someone blasted Agilao on him several times.

After emptying his bowels for the second time, he started to feel light headed from well throwing up more liquid than anything in his stomach region. Well, except for the tint of blood that made its way out, somehow. It might be just a small bleeding in the stomach or something, or that might have come from Izanagi fighting the others, whilst they made an attempt to fight back, maybe they just managed to damage the raging Persona. Who knows? He should at least check it out with a doctor at one point, just to be on the safe side.

Coughing out any remainder, Souji took a glass of water that he brought with him, he sipped about half of the contains, and gargled it to wash his mouth, spitting it into the bowel of the toilet he flushed it straight down. Taking a pill from his pockets, he popped it right into his mouth and used the rest of the glass of water to drink it down. He hoped for the best that it will last him enough to get a small night rest to sleep away the raging Persona.

As he made it back to his bed, his cell phone was vibrating; it put on silence so it didn't blast at a high volume to wake up the entire neighbourhood. He opened it up, it was Chie.

"_Hey, you checked the Midnight Channel?_" She questioned first then he opened the phone.

"Yeah... You remember anything?"

"_It's a bit of a blur... But I think I remember seeing some guy on it... I don't think it was very clear to whom it was though, you?"_

"Nothing except for a repeat from yesterday."

Understanding what he meant Chie groaned slightly, "_Will you be okay?_"

"For now I guess. Apparently Painkillers numb out the pain for a bit, so as long as I take them I should be fine. If you can, could you tell Yosuke to contact Teddie to search his world? We should be careful since someone might be thrown in..."

"_Yeah, sure of course! I'll let you know if they find anything._"

"Thanks, Chie. See you later." He hung up on her after she returned her goodbyes; he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sank down onto the chair. He let his sway back and softly land to the back of the chair; he stared at the ceiling for a bit before he unconsciously feel asleep.

**[ 8/2/2011 ]**

When he woke up, he noticed it was bright as the rays of sunlight shined through the window to his left, he also noticed that there was a blanket on top of him. He smiled; Nanako must have come in at one point and noticed him sleeping like that. He looked at the time from his phone, with the black text it wrote: 12:15PM. It's early in the afternoon again.

It must of been some kind of small habit to wake up around that time if he slept somewhere late in the night and had no alarm to wake him up any earlier. He shrugged at the thought, dropping it instantly as he changed to what he wore yesterday. He decided to go and meet Chie, knowing her, she's probably just in front of Daidara Metalworks in the Central Shopping District like she normally would. It was probably best to go straight there.

Once he arrived in the Central Shopping District, he called out for Chie, as he continued to make his way towards Daidara Metalworks, Chie heard his call and smiled upon seeing him. "Hey, Souji!" She called, waving her arms at him, "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged, "Decent I guess, casual headaches here and there, but I'll be okay. How about Teddie and Yosuke?"

Chie tilted her head at it, before remembering what he meant, "Oh right! Teddie's got nothing right now, but to put it in his words..." She coughed before continuing with the most ridiculous Teddie-like voice she could pull off. "I'll be bear-y bear-ful and sniff out for any-bear-dy!"

Souji choked even though there was nothing to be choked with or at. Chie attempted to help by hitting his back hard. He coughed, "The bear puns, it's endless!"

Chie laughed, although she felt guilty for somewhat laughing at him coughing while he said that, "I guess we'll pass out on training for the meanwhile... Follow me." She shuffled before jogging slowly towards Chinese Diner Aiya, Souji followed just behind by power walking. Once they made it in front of the Chinese Diner Aiya, Chie's grin only grew larger, probably having the word 'steak' circle around in her head.

"Today is steak bowl day! Just you wait!" She happily cheered loudly, she was about to walk right into the entrance of the restaurant when a voice of a young boy was heard.

""I-I don't have any more..." Even from here, the two could tell the whimpering and the amount of fear that circled around that boy.

Chie growled, "Ugh, don't tell me they're at it again... Let's go, Souji!" She sprinted off towards where the voice came from, giving his best, Souji made a dash for it as well, losing most of his breath by the time he arrived at the scene, it probably wasn't the best decision to do exercises whilst being sick, but he had to risk it.

"Heehee, don't worry guys, I know how to handle this bitch." The hatted leader smirked at his members before having his eyes trail over to Chie, looking at her from up to down.

The raven haired male nudged the other member and whispered to him, "Looks like he has something up his sleeves." Apparently the brunette found it funny and cracked up at it, wheezing out a soundless chuckled.

"Help..." The kid cried, starting to wipe out tears.

"Hear that Chie-riot? He wants help." The cap wearing male spat at her in a snooty manner.

Chie wasn't going to question why the male knew her name, giving her a ridiculous nickname along with it, she already wasn't in the mood to deal with any of this bullshit. Instead she started to glare at them with a deadly pierce, not to make an attempt to intimidate them, but to tell them that she is currently pissed off in the matter of two lines and a nickname.

The male who wore a cap continued with his speech ignoring the glare Chie was giving them, "You know, we ran into that guy you saved last time, we had a 'friendly chat' with him. He told us all kindsa stuff. Like where you live, and about that precious, oh precious 'Yukiko' of yours."

She was getting into position. "What are you trying to pull?

The male raised his hands in the air, "Woah, woah, woah, calm down, Chie-riot. Pull your horses to a halt, will you? I just want to have a little chat with this boy, so stay put, okay? 'Cause who knows what'll happen to this 'Yukiko' if you get in our way...?"

The other two members laughed at it, snickering away from the possibilities of what their leader would do to that Yukiko.

Chie grabbed his collar quick as a cat leapt onto its prey, she slammed his body towards the wall, making a slight dent in it. Not really caring about damaging costs right now, her princess was on the line. "If you fucking dare to lay a finger on her or any of my friends, I will personally Galactic Punt your head right into Uranus." She hissed coldly and quietly at the boy.

Becoming desperate to be the high and mighty people in the area, one of the other members decided to try to bribe the Chie-riot by grabbing the kid and made futile attempts to grab something from his pocket. "W-Wait! Don't make a move, or I'll- UGH!" He was interrupted by a fast punch, feeling some blood circulate out of his nostrils, he looked to see who punched him. Take a lucky guess, it was the Silver Fool. Chie saw it and smiled a tad bit from it. Giving her attention back to the leader, she went for the critical hit to the nads before grabbing him from the wall and sending his body right to the members, making them collide. There wasn't enough momentum for them to go tumbling down onto the ground but that wasn't necessary to begin with.

The leader of the bunch wobbled his way up, covering his wound, he snarled at Chie. "Let's go, lesbians ain't worth our time anyway." Getting support from his fellow punks, they walked away from the area.

"Thank yo-you... Miss..." The kid sobbed, still wiping away any tears. Chie smiled and bent down to lend the boy a handkerchief.

"Don't worry about it..." She told him before the boy ran away. Once the boy disappeared from the horizon she sighed, sinking down onto her knees as they started to tremble. "Yesh, my heart is still pounding... Is it weird that I feel like I did a good thing, but at the same time, feel like I did something bad?" She questioned as she turned her head to the Silver Fool.

"Not at all. You only did what you thought was the right thing to do." He told her, as he putted his hand on her shoulder lightly.

She smiled gently. "Yeah you're right. I wanted to protect them, that kid, Yukiko... Everybody... I'll do whatever I can to protect everybody." There was a small blush that appeared as she said that, most likely to be somewhat embarrassed by it.

Souji nodded, "And we will protect you too, because we are all in this together."

Souji felt his relationship with Chie has grown deeper, in the estimate of three seconds, those few words was going to come...

_I am thou,_

_and thou art I._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Chariot Arcana..._

_The Chie Satonaka Social Link has reached Rank Nine!_

Chie's blush started to grow, she turned her face away, avoiding eye contact. "...Ugh this is stupid..."

Unsure what she was going on about Souji only questioned about it more, "Something on your mind?"

She waved her hands in defence, "No, no! It's nothing!" She sighed anyway, only allowing her blush to grow more, "It's a bit silly, but the moment they mentioned 'lesbians' that struck a note in me, y'know?" She fiddled with her fingers. "...I'm going to trust you with this so hear me out okay?"

Oh, now he got it...

"The thing is... Yukiko and I... We've been secretly dating for about a couple of years." She huffed out, "And there goes my heart, pumping like crazy..." She fanned herself with her hands attempting to get her blush away.

Souji smiled, he clapped to applaud Chie's confrontation. "Hey, congratulations. How did you two manage to keep it a secret for this long?"

She winked, "There's a reason why females are proven to be better liars than males."

Taking the joke, Souji chuckled, "Are you planning to tell the rest of the team?"

"Yeah, it's just a matter of time until we feel ready to tell everybody, so far it's just you and Yosuke who knows about this, of course not including our parents. Boy that was tough, but I'm glad that they are supporting us."

"That's great to hear Chie, I hope things go wonderfully with you and Yukiko."

Chie grinned, "Thanks! Hey, I'll see you next time okay? I gotta jet back home." She waved before sprinting off, "Later, Souji!"

Souji watched the Chariot ride off into the sunset, before deciding to head back home. He's very happy for Chie right now, she just came out confessing right after what had happen, and honestly that would've taken a lot guts.

Once the Silver Fool arrived back at home the Young Justice greeted him back in her cheery voice as always, before he could go back upstairs into his room, he asked Nanako to show the weather forecast for a brief moment, taking note it was mostly going to be sunny with the exception of there being a possibility of rain on Saturday.

When he made it upstairs, he continued to read the book Fun with Numbers until he decided to go to sleep, all just before midnight struck.

**[ 8/3/2011 ]**

Once Midnight did strike, the twins were still up staying awake during the Dark Hour. Well for one, Minato's getting sick for no reason, and two, Hamuko had something to tell him. She sadly watched her pale brother toss and turn, trying to get a good night rest, she wanted to delay what she had to tell him for tomorrow, or whenever he got better. But it looks like the sick Fool gave up.

He's basically been like this since morning, even after she gave him some medicine, hoping to dull out the pain, those attempts were futile.

"How bad is it?" Hamuko asked, trying to get her words past her brothers groaning.

"I feel like I've been executed... Only with Ragnarok. While I had a Persona equipped who is weak to fire." He managed to wheeze out. Hamuko cringed at the sound of that... "Well since none of us is going to sleep anytime soon, what was it that you were going to tell me?"

"Well you know how because of my seal breaking and all, Nyx is going to return and recommence the Fall once Erebus gets to her?"

Minato only nodded, not wanting to strain his vocal chords. He could ask about the Fall later.

"Once Nyx brings the Fall for the second time, the only way to prevent it is by sealing her away from Erebus again. Apparently neither of them can be defeated, however I want to plan a way to prevent Erebus from getting to her before any of that happens. Of course I will probably need some help in doing so. But I don't want S.E.E.S or the new group of Persona User's getting involved."

Minato forced a gentle smile as he struggled to sit himself up, "So it'll be the two of us? What's the plan?" Hamuko pushed him back down.

"Stay down, you need to rest." She whispered to him, before allowing her voice return to a normal volume. "But the plan? Well, I haven't really gone that far, I've only written down some theories.." She patted the coffee table where a piece of paper and pen sat down nice and neatly. The paper was already written on, having a few scribbles of lines, made from Hamuko's handwriting, it was somewhat small and messy, but it was still easy to understand the writing.

Minato extended his hand up into the air, indicated that he wanted to read what she wrote down so far, she passed it onto to him, and he read the piece of sheet deeply into his mind. So far she's written down some lines that pointed to other words along with some sentences to back her claims.

_"Ryoji = Pharos, this was proven when Ryoji and I first met, the blue eyes and the mole, some references to some lines Pharos once said. During Fortune Social Link with Ryoji, he revealed himself to be Pharos, not sure how that works, but I'm not going to question it too much._

_Ryoji/Pharos = Death, aka The thirteenth Shadow Arcana that was never meant to be._  
_Ryoji/Pharos is considerably a Shadow, may explain why Pharos spoken to me during the Dark Hour._  
_Death may also refer to Thanatos, considering the latter is the Ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana, and is also the God of Death in Greek Mythology. Also considering that Ryoji's true form is similar to Thanatos._

_Ryoji also happens to be the appraiser for Nyx, making him the Nyx Avatar which explains the Avatar's similar appearance to Ryoji. Possibly connected to Nyx in some form or shape._

_Nyx is technically the mother of shadows, possibly making her a Shadow too. (Theory)_  
_Somewhat strikes a connection to Nyx in Greek Mythology where she is the Goddess of the Night, maybe connecting that to the Full Moon Shadows we as S.E.E.S fought and the Dark Hour. Also makes a bit of sense that I fought her on the moon._

_If; Ryoji = Nyx, Nyx could technically be his Shadow. in some sense one form or another. _

_If possible; Seal Nyx into Ryoji like how Aigis sealed him in my brother, Minato._  
_  
If possible; Get some help from Ryoji. (Achieved!)_

_If possible; Think positive! (Always achieved!)"_

Minato almost laughed at reading the last paragraph, typical Hamuko stuff right there. Although there was something that bugged his mind other than his raging headache.

Ryoji... It was mentioned a couple of times, where did he hear that name before? Ah right when Mitsuru and Aigis told him about the rest of the journey of S.E.E.S, he recalls how Aigis said that he was like an 'anthropomorphic personification of Death' or something of the sorts. But what was this about him being connected to Pharos? Oh well, maybe he will see for himself if he meets with Ryoji.

He handed the piece of paper back to his sister, "Sealing Nyx into Ryoji, huh? How are you gonna pull that one off?"

Hamuko rubbed her chin softly, "Well, if I managed to seal Nyx from Erebus by summoning Messiah, so maybe I could something similar? However I don't think I'll be able to summon him again."

"How come? As long you recorded his data into your compendium or fuse him again you should be able to..."

"He won't hear my call anymore, from what Margaret told me, he's waiting for a certain Persona User to resolve his or her problems..."

"Oh right, I forgot some Personas from our compendium have heeded the call for other Persona Users..."

Hamuko deeply started at Minato, "Margaret said he is waiting for someone with the Fool Arcana, the only people I know who has that is Minato and whoever is leading the current group of Persona Users... It's either my brother or him... I wonder who it will be..." She thought carefully, although she would prefer that the new Wild Card stays out of this problem.

"I recommend coming up with a backup plan, you know just in case something happens?" Minato told her, snapping her out of her daze.

"Yeah, guess you're right... I'll think of something. For now we should rest and be prepared for anything coming up, who knows what will happen in the upcoming full moon..." Hamuko focused her attention towards a small window, noticing that the Dark Hour was ending. "There goes the Dark Hour..." Hearing a buzzing noise, Hamuko reacted and looked for the source, on the coffee table was a small lamp, the dim lights flickered on and off rapidly a small amount of times before turning itself back on. She almost forgot she had that thing on before the Dark Hour occurred.

Minato sat himself up, clutching his head with one hand, "My headaches fading away..." He muttered, unsure how the hell that works.

Hamuko furrowed her brows at that, unsure herself, "You feeling better?" She inquired.

Giving a nod back, Minato hummed a short note, "Yeah, still feel like shit though... Had way worse from Tartarus sickness though." He lightly joked, making Hamuko smile just a bit.

Another sound of buzzing, their attentions jerked to the Inn's TV, said TV flickered itself on and off, Minato raised his brows at it.

"The Midnight Channel? But I thought it was dead, and it's not even Midnight or raining..." He muttered to himself, Hamuko still managed to pick it up.

"Midnight Channel?" She questioned, unsure what it's about. Just then, she clapped her hands finding an idea to what it was, "Oh! So it's like one of those secret shows that only pops up at Midnight?"

"I guess you can put it that way, only that it's run by Shadows."

Hamuko's expression darkened, vaguely understanding the idea. "Oh... So it's connected to that Other World, huh?"

Minato nodded his expression darkened somewhat as he kept his gaze right onto the blank screen. "Yeah, it's only supposed to show at Midnight and when it's raining. The new Persona Users use this to find out who would be thrown in next and then rescue them."

"So it's kind of like how the Lost would get trapped in Tartarus..."

Minato cringed at remember the times he had to explore Tartarus thoroughly, making sure he found whoever got lost in Tartarus, afraid of what would happen to them if he didn't. And then there was the two times when Maiko and Bunkichi was lost in there... Thank god he managed to save them before it was too late. "Yeah, kind of like that..."

Feeling like she hit a bad spot, Hamuko regretted of bringing that up, feeling the need to go and hug him, she did just that and did her best to lighten him up, "It's okay... That's all in the past now, it's over..."

"I know... I know..." He whispered with a slight hiss, he didn't want those memories again.

Hamuko was just about to depart from the hug, when a loud screeching noise came from the blank TV that showed nothing but static, she lost her balance and fell down, she stared at the TV. "Did you hear that?" She asked Minato as she cleaned her ears, rubbing out any inner noise from her ears burning from the disgusting sound that had just came from the TV.

"Sounded like someone screaming..." He replied, doing the same.

"I heard screeching..." Hamuko told him, how did they hear different noises?

Minato carefully crawled towards the TV, "What are you seeing?" He questioned.

"Nothing than this yellow room... You?"

"Well, I'm seeing the yellow room but... There's a dark silhouette... Most likely a male due to his figure, he's running for some reason..." Hamuko stared at the TV, yeah she wasn't seeing any silhouettes, it was blank for her, an empty yellow area that was slightly covered by fog. Minato saw that area, but there was the additional of the silhouette and minus the screeching and replacing it with screaming. The TV forced itself to shut off, going to a pitch black, only thing Minato could saw at that point was a dim reflection...

"...Well that was a thing that just happened..." Minato admitted, still staring at the TV will a blank expression.

"I wonder what that was about..." Hamuko wondered, before laying herself comfortable on to her futon, "Ugh, I think I'm going to call it a night..." She forcefully dragged the blanket on top of her head, covering every inch of her body underneath the warm blanket.

Minato stared at the TV for a while longer, before deciding to contact somebody about this whole dilemma, of course it was just about now he remembered that he traded his mobile number to every Investigation Team member just in case if something happens.

He walked over to his backpack and dug his hands in after zipping it straight open, he aimlessly moved his hand around touching foreign objects as he went, until he touched a cold metal object, thinking that might be his phone, he gave it a thorough feel, feeling the sides as slow as he could, noticing that one side has some kind of thin hole, he felt this was the object, like a crane, he grabbed it and pulled it out. Turns out to be his phone. An old modelled Samsung cell phone. Jackpot.

He flipped it open and turned it on, maybe he should go to Junes and get himself a new phone like one of those IPhones or something... Nah, this one still works just as fine. When the boy was greeted by the screen that showed both the time and calendar, he went straight to the menu section, going from there, he highlighted contacts and hit the button that lay on top of the famous green phone symbol button. He scrolled down, going past several contacts, both belonging to former S.E.E.S members and the all new Investigation Team members contacts.

He even went past some contacts belonging to people that were a part of his Social Links, Minato made an attempt to ignore it, just names of your former friends and what not... He stopped scrolled once he reached one name. Souji. Well, honestly, he was the best one to contact right now, maybe he knows about what's going on with the Midnight Channel. He pressed the green calling button and waited for a pick up.

About five rings later, someone picked up.

"Hey, sorry if I'm calling at such an odd time, but do you know what's wrong with the Midnight Channel?" Minato questioned once he was through.

There was a yawn before Souji's voice came through, sounding tired. "_Minato? Ah, Midnight Channel huh... Wait you saw it?_"

"Yeah, my sister Hamuko was even there to see it... Is it going haywire or something? Apparently we saw different things."

"_You remember what you saw?! Well what was it?_" Souji suddenly started to yell with eager, like he just fully woke up from what Minato had to say.

"Um, well. She saw what claimed to be a yellow room surrounded by fog, she even heard screeching noises... I pretty much heard the screech too, but then there was this silhouette, possibly belonging to a male... Why are you asking?" He questioned the silver haired male on the other line.

"_Last two times I tried to watch the darn thing, I end up forgetting anything that was shown and then later have a raging Izanagi who went and destroyed anything that moved in my psyche._"

Minato flinched at the sound of that, a raging Persona huh... Was it him or has things been a gigantic case of déjà vu lately? Probably just him. "Wow, sounds very morbid..." He muttered under his breath, taking this phone away from his mouth, he glide it back over to his ear, "So we all saw different things... How about the rest?"

"_So far I only know Chie is testing it out as well, she doesn't remember anything either. As for the rest, I have no clue. I'm thinking about addressing the problem to them somewhere in the afternoon today... Hey how are you and your sister healing up?_"

Minato's eyes trailed onto Hamuko's futon which was looked like it had a big lump in it. He rolled his eyes, "Fairly decent, I'm sure Yukiko had already told you, but we probably need just a few more days to recover mentally."

Somehow, Minato could imagine the Silver Fool nodding at that statement, "_I see... Well just give me a call if you see anything else on the Midnight Channel, I honestly have no idea what's going on either, but you should keep an eye at it._"

"Of course, I'll talk to you then." Minato hung up straight after that, shutting his phone off and setting it off onto the side of the small coffee table. He then gave the TV another glance, staring blankly at it. "I feel like things aren't going to be as simple as we thought it would it..." He mumbled. Letting out a small yarn afterwards, he made his way back to his sleeping nest, getting comfy underneath the blanket and finding a good position before deciding to close his eyes and sleep.

Morning hit early for a certain group of two. The two was told to wait outside Junes, they watched as a Ford Transit taxi cab came from the distance, driving into a clear parking lot, from the back seats, the door opened, and out came a familiar white haired boxing male. A certain red haired female smiled upon the male's arrival.

"Welcome to Inaba, Akihiko." Mitsuru greeted with a small, gentle smile.

The male went towards the boot of the taxi opening it up to grab his medium sized luggage and a rather large black briefcase, after that came a white dog who jumped out of the boot as well. "Well, it's times that things started to heat up." Akihiko told her, as he settled his luggage near the curve, before bending down and scratching the dog just behind it's ears. "I'll promise to take you a proper walk later, okay, Koromaru?" The dog named Koromaru barked happily as it's reply.

"He says that he'll gladly be patient. But he is very eager to go on a walk." Aigis translated, still able to understand the dog's language. Koromaru walked its way up to the other two former members of the S.E.E.S crew, getting into a stance before jumping up at them, putting his paws at their knees.

"Yes, it's nice to see you again, Koro." Aigis told him when he jumped up at her mechanic knees, she gave the dog a quick rustle on the sides of his neck, noticing that his specially made Evoker was attached to his collar, even the specially made clothing/armour the dog would wear on his trips to Tartarus.

Watching the scene Akihiko chuckled, before returning to the boot of the taxi and closing the boot, he walked towards the driver's window and paid for the fair. After returning back to the footpath, the driver took off, returning to his job of driving people around.

Akihiko then turned to face the two other members. "So, where we going to chat to catch me up on things with the Shadows? We need to make it quick though, I have to be at the Police Station in about..." He looked at his wristwatch. "One hour and a half."

Mitsuru nodded understandingly, "Of course, follow me. It won't be the best place to chat it up, but it'll do for now." She motioned her head towards the Junes Store before walking in with Aigis at her side, they led him to the Food Court to catch him up. Mitsuru and Aigis told him any information about the other side and Midnight Channel they learnt from the Investigation Team and passed it onto Akihiko, who listened to every detail carefully.

After it was all done, he nodded. "So that's the case, huh? Thanks Mitsuru, I'll leave this with you, I've got to get going." He grabbed the briefcase and set it on top of the table, "Nine brand new Evokers. These things were the reason why I arrived here a tad later than I hoped... But here you go. I'll leave Koromaru with you as well."

Mitsuru grabbed it from the table, and stood up from her seat as the rest did so, "Alright then, I'll see you later." They separated their ways, once the two females along with the additional dog got out of Junes, once then did Aigis remember something.

"Do Inn's allow pets? From my knowledge, Inn's normally don't allow pets, but it usually depends." She questioned Mitsuru, Aigis stared at Koromaru, who started to softly whine.

"...We'll find out later." Mitsuru answered not really knowing herself. They both stared at the white shiba-inu somewhat heavy heartedly. "But I'm sure Amagi can arrange something for Koromaru..."

Meanwhile somewhere else, just on the step leading to offertory box in the Tatsuhime Shrine, Yukiko and Souji were just casually hanging out, Yukiko started to twitch, feeling like her nose started to itch, feeling like she was about to sneeze, she quickly cupped her hands over her hand and nose, she then let out a small quick high pitched sneeze.

"Bless you." Souji told her, giving her the common courtesy out of sheer habit.

Pulling her hands away from her face she smiled towards Souji, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She took a handkerchief from her pockets, she placed it over her nose and lightly blew her nose into it, "I think I might be catching a cold..." Her voice mumbled a bit, it was still clear enough for Souji to understand, she pushed her handkerchief back into her pockets after she folded it up, "I heard from Chie that she's told you about us," she turned to Souji, changing the topic suddenly, "I just wanted to say thanks for supporting us." Her lips curved up, showing a soothing smile.

Souji smiled back, "Of course, we're all friends after all."

Yukiko lightly giggled, "Yeah." They both laughed lightly, although they didn't know what exactly they were laughing at, the moment was broken when a middle aged man came in.

"Oh Yukiko, there you are." He said, looking right at Yukiko, who started to push herself up from the steps.

"Oh, the deputy mayor." She told Souji, who nodded understanding a bit more.

"The people at the inn seems to be busy, is something going on?" The deputy mayor questioned Yukiko sincerely.

Swinging her arms to her back, Yukiko raised one raven brow at it, "Hmm?" She shot her arms toward her chest as she released what the mayor was on about in a shockingly manner. "Oh no! Today was the interview for the travel show!"

The deputy mayor seemed to nod in delight, "On TV? That's great! You'll try and make Inaba inviting, won't you?" He told her before walking away. Once the male disappeared, Yukiko looked at Souji with an empty blank stare with a bit of concern in it.

"I'm sorry, I have to get going..." She told him with sad tone.

Souji shook his head as he pushed himself up from the stairs, standing up, "No, it's alright, it happens. We can hang out another time." He then gave her a questionable look, "You're going to be on TV, huh?"

She laughed as she swatted at the air, shaking her head slightly, almost brushing that off like a joke, "No, I won't, I've specifically requested that no employees will be filmed or shown. It seems like a serious travel show, so everyone's eager to help. They probably need me to help clean up, so I'll be going now."

Souji nodded, understandingly, although other than his headache from a certain raging Persona, there was some gut feeling he had that this wasn't going to turn out well. Why would it? Last two times he hung out with someone, they went rather hostile. Almost out of character like for both Chie and Yosuke, no matter how pissed of those two were.

But just as Yukiko was about to leave, Kasai came rushing in, still in her kimono. "Yuki! There you are?"

"Kasai? What are you doing here?" Yukiko questioned almost immediately, softly demanding for an answer.

"That TV crew came, but don't go back to the inn!" Kasai warned her, "It was a trick! It's those people from that 'news of the weird' show. I think they're looking for you so stay put! Go hide or something, quick!"

Admittedly, Souji saw this coming from miles away.

Becoming worried Yukiko managed to nod, "Um, okay... Where can we go?" She questioned Souji. Not having the time to explain he just grabbed hold of Yukiko's hand.

"Just follow me alright?" He told her, she only manages to nod back again, "Thank you." He told Kasai before deciding to sprint off, hoping that Yukiko was able to keep up despite wearing flat shoes. They only made it as far as into the Central Shopping District before they were stopped by a group of men from a camera crew.

"Look, there she is!" A man's voice shouted. The group ran over to Souji and Yukiko, who decided to depart their hands before matters get any worse. "No use in hiding, future manager of the cursed inn." The male in the brown clothing spat.

"Cursed inn? Are they being for real right now?" Souji hissed quietly, shooting a deadly glare towards the group.

"We know all about that murder case. Mayumi Yamano stayed at your place, right? And you guys've been hurting what with the drop in visitors, huh?" The shady reporter in brown began to boast. "So I came up with an idea! 'The High School Manager's Embarrassing Struggle: Renovating the Cursed Inn!' How's that grab? The customers will be pouring in, I tell ya."

"I don't understand what you..." Yukiko quietly spoke, feeling somewhat intimidated and insulted.

"We want you to be the star." The reporter kept going, pouring out more speeches than a political debate. "When we introduce the hot springs, let us film a little bathing scene, eh? 'The Modest Manager's Steamy Service!' Ratings will go off the charts I tell ya!"

"Will you please leave? We are not interested in your coverage." Yukiko deadpanned to them, trying to be humble and not let her blood be boiled by these pieces of shit.

"You're refusing?" He sighed frustratedly, "Look kid... You don't know the power of television, do you? Well, can't blame you, livin' in the countryside. We're trying to help you out, I mean, do you WANT the patrons to dry up? If you're going to be the next manager, I'm trusting you with making the right decision."

"I won't... Be... The next manager..." She mumbled back, apparently the shady reporter had some sort of super hearing seeing he was able to pick up every peak of it.

"Hmm, is that so? Well, you just say the word, and I'll hook you up with a better deal than running this dump of an inn." He tried to put it nicely, but only made it sound more insulting, like pouring salt into an open wound.

"Look would you just stop already? She said no, and that means no. Just go." Souji tried to reason with him, thankfully having enough courage to do so.

"It's alright, just let them say what they have to say, they'll go home once they get it all out." She told him, although admittedly she just wanted them to leave, they already pushed her buttons in the wrong way. They were frustrating her, but this is what you have to deal with.

The reporter shot a disgusted look, "...What the shit? You say your inn has been going for generations, but all that means is, it's crappy and run-down. Yeah, sure you _managed_to get someone from the Kirijo family to stay there, but honestly who gives ten shits? Tradition is so last year anyway, you'd be better off closing up."

"...The hell up,,," Yukiko mumbled, her voice gradually got louder. "Don't say another thing about our inn! Who'd take your pathetic, perverted ideas seriously anyway?! I don't care who you are, or what your 'sweat deal' is, but whatever it is, I will straight up refuse anything from your station! So just go away already! I had enough!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Yo-You... Bitch!" The reporter shouted back at her, "Fine! If that's how you want to play it. I'll plaster those words all over prime time! See how that feels!"

"Go ahead! Do it by no means! I won't stop you." Yukiko snarled back, now it was time she delivered the all-out attack. "We'll just deliver some official complaints to your sponsors and sue you for harassment. See how _that_feels!"

"Tch!" Was all the man said before he walked away. after disappearing with his crew, Yukiko sighed in relief.

"Did... I just... Wow, I said some incredible things..." Yukiko noticed and praised herself slightly, not really having to burst out like that, but thankfully she kept it under control. She started to laugh it off, "Eh... I just kind of lost it when he started to insult the inn..."

"That place is technically your home, I wouldn't be surprised if I lost it when someone insulted it. It's like insulting your whole family." Souji reasoned, admitting his thoughts as well.

"Yeah, hey, w-was I scary?" She questioned, having a small blush appear on her cheeks.

"Scarier than the Wicked Witch of the West." He joked, earning a soft elbow to the sides.

"Hey at least I don't melt when in contact with water." She sarcastically replied, although it was giving away from her relieved smile. "But you know, what you said it's true, not long ago, I thought, 'It'd better off if it was closed,' but it's literally particularly my home. Like everyone in my world is at." She gently smiled as she let her head sway towards the ground. "I can't let it close."

Starting to face her true feelings, Yukiko started to laugh, Souji joined in as he felt his bond with her strengthen, growing deeper. Allow time to be froze for just a brief moment, as those words of a bond growing to come back.

_I am thou,_

_and thou art I._

_Thou shalt continue to gain our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Priestess Arcana..._

_The Yukiko Amagi Social Link has reached Rank Eight!_

"Yikes... My heart is still racing..." Yukiko mumbled once time came back into place for Souji. "Hey, this might seem like an odd favour, but could you stay just a bit longer before we part?"

Even though it was a so called 'odd favour', Souji smiled and nodded, spending a bit more time with Yukiko before he walked her back to the inn. Once he returned back home, he received a package from the TV show. After opening it in his room, it was revealed to be the Maneki Neko combo he purchased. He set the items down onto the table, thinking to properly place them somewhere early in the morning.

He continued to read Fun with Numbers that night, feeling his diligence change from strong to thorough, and increased his knowledge. Good timing too, he read the last few pages before shutting the book close. He finished reading Fun with Numbers. Now he could he started onto other books that are probably much better than reading that book.

With that, he called it a night.

* * *

_A/N: And that's it for these two chapters! Ugh, I just found out that P4Arena won't be coming to Australia or Europe until somewhere in 2013. I don't remember the exact article where I read about it, but I'm sure if you Google something like Persona 4 Arena Europe you should find some articles about it._

_I'm just going to go quietly sob into a corner now. Looks like I'll be kept in the dark with the story for a bit longer. I am very tempted to go and spoil myself to the story mode, but I really, really don't want to spoil the experience. I just really hope by the time P4Arena comes out here in the AU, people are still playing online._

_I didn't buy a 3 month Gold Membership for the 360 for nothing._

_Time to reply to the reviews!  
_  
_DemonRaily: Most of that actually hits pretty close to home with what I've got planned down! But I'm not going to say any more than I've had, and just let the story tell it when the time comes. *double pistols and a wink*_

_Dj Crescendo27: Congrats on making it this far all in one go! Great to know that you're enjoying it so far. :D_

_RaDiaNTFreezez: Excuse myself while I back away and proceed to HEAL MYSELFFF~ EH-HUEEEE~ (I even can't listen to the Junes Theme normally without hearing faint sounds of that video jfc. Still love that vid.)_

_That's it for this author's note, thanks for reading, I'll see you guys next chapter!_


	20. Announcement

From the Third to the Fourth

Bonus Chapter: Announcement

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, iamthou here, I know most of you are probably eager to read Chapter 20 and onwards, but today, no updates are going to happen, other than well, an announcement. This isn't THAT important, but it does involve reasons why I might not be continuing this story. This also may be the last time I speak to you via this story.

You don't have to stay to read all of this, so if you just want to click that red x in the corner that's okay too.

TL;DR Version; Stuff happened, slow updates will begin happen or I may not update again at all, I may start on a different project later but that depends.

* * *

Time to reply to reviews before giving the longer version! (all of this has already been writen before)

_grandshadowseal: The moment it does come out in 2013, I'm just going to run to the stores, get my copy, shout; "I've been waiting for this!" and sob into the corner for how long I've been waiting for it._

_SuperNova23: So sad, bad, dad. Persona PSP is loads of fun! Level grinding, Spell card hunting and Persona making n ranking can be a pain in the ass in hard mode though. *sobs* I got my ass kicked by toilet demons so many times. I still get motion sickness from running around in the dungeons in first person view though. My god is it so awkward to play P3P a bit then P PSP._

_Can I also say how much I love the boss battle music? I love Bloody Destiny so much I made a 1 hour 1 minute 1 second extention of it. (no joke that was a thing that actually happened)_

_SlyTrinity: Welcome to From the Third to the Fourth! We have dog fogs, Souji is actually Sonja in disguise and apparently Kuromaru's Persona is the deity of darkness! Yeah, looking back at that stupid typo, I don't even know how I manage to mess that up. Or anything in this fic. I mean who mixes Cerberus with Erebus? *coughidocough*_

_The Fool Arcana: Oh my gosh that's a lot of reviews. I'm overflowing with happiness. Er... Now how do I reply to most of them...? Oh, I got it!_

_[Chapter 1]: It was Revolver Jesus! *slapped*_

_[Chapter 2]: I actually plan to have him wield a bow for the next shadow boss fight. *coughmitsuocough* I mean, Venasaur._

_[Chapter 3]: I'm actually not planning to get Golden or a Vita. As much as I love to get my hands on Golden and Vita, I don't think we Australian's will be getting Golden until 2013 like Arena. (still bummed at that)_

_[Chapter 5]: Kinda sorta, but I guess it's more of a 'these two are twins, but had to separate at one point, so p3 happens but x dies at one point and y comes and takes x's place, but in an alternate universe it was y who dies and then x takes y's place universe.' _

_[Chapter 6]: I do remember Mitsuru saying that really only happens in the beginning and you just get use to it as time moves on. Something like that. _

_[Chapter 10]: He likes his cabbage the way he likes his bitches and whores. *hit*_

_DemonRaily: [Chapter 18]: If you need anyone to blame to who let the dogs out, you can always blame Erebus._

_[Chapter 19]: True, but remember, from the chapters I've submitted so far, we know that Hamuko joined S.E.E.S post Hanged Man(ish). She probably wouldn't know much about Shadows in comparison to say, Minato. Obviously her plans will be flawed and will be making more that are equally as flawed._

* * *

(Longer version of explaintion to why I can't update)

So, it's fairly obvious that I'm not updating as fast/much that I use to when I started Ft3TT4. Personal stuff happened and I've just pretty much lost my appetite to writing this story again along with P3SEF.

All I'm going to say is that I've failed a certain year after the exams, and the school wants me to repeat the year again. Seen it coming because I made that happen and I wanted to repeat the year again, but it just caused a massive shitstorm with my parents that it pushed me back into the zone of questioning the bane of my existance and what I want in my life.

It's actually quite funny that I still have my motivation to make art, maybe because I'm so damn passionate about it.

Apparently before the exams even started, my parents threatened to take away my internet just because I spend too much time 'playing games' but in reality I barely use the internet and just use my computer to draw. In fact the only times that I use the internet is to submit anything on fanfiction, deviantart or tumblr. If I go on youtube, I'm at the library. It just really hurts to hear that my parents think that my passion is just a game to me.

Sorry if I'm just rambling at the moment, I just need to get everything out of my system

I'm somewhat a bit better from the stuff that happened since this was like a day ago, but I feel so heartbroken that I just really don't have much motivation to continue writing this story along with P3SEF, even though I have tried to plan a lot for it. I may continue the two stories, I may not. But if I do manage to get my motivation back, I may start another story projects such as one with only my original characters, that I'm already working and planning on. I also have a P1/P2/P3/P4 crossover fic planned out but I won't work on it until after I played both P2:IS and watch a walkthough for P2:EP.

I'll give myself about a few weeks or somewhere next year, (unless 2012 is real and actually happens) but if I manage to gain the strength to continue this story and P3SEF, the updates will be very, very slow.

I might do a bonus chapter for a certain day (not christmas). And that may be the last chapter I ever write for this story, but it may not. Until then, see you later.


End file.
